The secret wife
by Shakespearenarutostyle
Summary: "The thing is, Mrs. Uchiha, I am weird, I am really bizarre, like extinct species bizarre, it's crazy, but for some odd reason," She barked a laugh, "With some miracle, your son loves me, and I love him, too, I don't know what that changes for you, but that's the truth, and the only truth I know." AU MATURE CONTENT SASUSAKU RATED M
1. Bombshell

Hey, guys, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this or nor, as mot of you know, lemons are foreign territory for me, eventually, I told my self that I am a coward and I decided to let you guys be the judges.

Enjoy

_warning: **Mature content **_

* * *

Sakura sighed delightfully as she soaked in a hot tub filled to the brim with bubbly steaming water. She stretched one shapely leg, dangling it off of the edge of the tub.

Her reddish blonde locks were gathered atop of her head in a silky mess, damp from the steam, and her face was devoid of any cosmetic products.

Her eyelids slid open when her phone chimed. She growled, irritated at the interruption, and reached over for a towel, to dry her hands.

Sakura retrieved her phone from the nearby bench and unlocked the screen, she narrowed her eyes at the new message.

_I'm in town, I'll meet you tonight._

For a second, she was overcome with the urge to dump the device in the water she soaked in, and then thought better against that waste of material.

_That arrogant prick!_ She thought. How could he send her a message, just like that, expecting her to obey and jump to do his bidding, as if she were some obedient medieval wife?

She sneered much like a tigress and bounded out of the tub, splashing water all over the shiny tiled floor. She stepped into the shower and yanked the knob, quickly disposing her skin from the suds.

"Mika," She called out as soon as she stepped into her room, wrapped in a burgundy bathrobe, her hair covered with a towel, she shouted Mika's name once more when the maid failed to answer quick enough.

"Yes, madam?" The young brunette answered, bobbing her head in a respectful greeting, tucking a stray lock back into her bun.

"Did you throw that invitation to the centennial?" Sakura asked over her shoulder, walking into her massive closet.

"No, madam." The maid denied, "Would you like me to dispose of it, now?"

"No." Sakura exclaimed, "Get it, I am going."

Mika raised an elegant eyebrow, "Madam?"

"Don't question me, just do it." The rosette countered, eyeing a red dress hanging in her closet, her bewitching green eyes landed on a pair of black heels, half out of its box and she smirked. "Now, Mika."

"Alright, madam, as you wish."

Sakura removed the towel from her hair and the reddish blonde locks tumbled all the way to her buttocks. Feeling determined, she reached for her hair dryer.

_You just might have the surprise of your life, dearest Sasuke of mine._

Sasuke Uchiha sipped lazily at his glass of champagne. He was standing at the far corner of the ballroom, halfheartedly watching the couples dance in celebration for the 100th anniversary of the island's independence.

He glanced at his watch, eager to leave the stuffy room, his bowtie clung to his neck in a suffocating manner. Unconsciously, he palmed his phone, willing the device to vibrate. He sent the text message an hour ago, and yet he did not receive the minx's reply.

His grey eyes glanced at his mother, chatting happily with a few of her oldest friends, his father was engaged in a serious conversation with Kang Toro, the head of the Kang Compound for Importation, Sasuke shook his head, his father would forever be himself, eager to strike a business interaction, everywhere and anywhere.

Oh, how he envied his brother at times, the disowned Itachi was not obligated to attend foolish social interactions, unlike him, not that Sasuke was too keen on following a career in music, like his brother did, consequently heralding Uchiha Fugaku's eternal anger.

Suddenly, the dancing couples, were not dancing anymore, instead, they all gazed at the entryway of the Uchiha manor, eyes as wide as saucers, and mouths hanging open.

Sasuke would have found it comical, oh, he would have, had he not glanced at the entryway himself and found himself much in the same state.

He caught her handing her black coat to one of the servants. His grey eyes nearly dropped out of their sockets when they fell on her dress, if it could be called that.

It was a scandalous piece of red fabric really, more reminiscent of something that a woman might wear to the bedroom to please her lover than to a party as important as the centennial. It was just a touch shorter than her knees, contrary to the flowing gowns of the women occupying the dance floor. The red silk incased her lovely breasts deliciously, and then a coat of red lace covered her collarbones.

The fabric clung to her every curve, much to his dismay, attracting the attention of every male in the hall.

She marched further into the room, the sound of her black pumps echoed in a delicious _click _breaching the silence of the room.

Her long, luscious locks hang low, again, unlike the updo's that the women here ported, the unique color of her hair clashed wonderfully with her vibrant red dress.

As she approached, he could see the smoky colors that shadowed her bewitching green eyes, and the hoop diamond earrings that hang from the delectable lobes of her ears, as well as the bracelet that adorned her dainty wrist.

She walked towards him as if she hadn't a care in the world, as if all was swell, he could do nothing but stare at her.

She smiled slyly at him, the dimple he knew so well curving in her cheek. "Hello, Sasuke, missed me?"

Anger boiled in his insides, gnawing at him, and threatening to erupt, he inhaled deeply, trying to rein his anger in.

Slowly, but surely, the buzz resumed around them, until the ballroom was in motion once more. Discreetly, he gestured with his head towards the French doors leading to the green gardens.

The rosette took the hint and followed him, three paces behind him, scanning the artifacts that adorned the hall.

Fresh air greeted her as she stepped onto the green grass, she immediately scoped her surroundings, looking from him. The rosette walked further into the gardens, stumbling into the thick foliage of cherry blossom trees.

Her wrist was pulled and she tumbled onto a hard chest, a giggle erupted past her lips, painted a shameful red.

"Do you think it's funny?" He hissed into her ear, like a snake waiting to strike, instead of scaring her, the hiss evoked feelings ever so familiar, shivers trailing down her spine, and butterflies fluttering in the center of her belly.

She giggled once more, knowing that that would infuriate him further. The male behind her gripped her long locks and tugged, pulling her head back.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?"

She sneered, twirling to meet his gaze, taking a step back and rubbing at her scalp, she could not deny the fact that his rough manhandling aroused her, as it always did. "What was I to do? Do you think that I am your plaything, Sasuke? You come and take me as you please, when the mood strikes you?" She jeered. "Well, I am more than just a convenient whore, Sasuke, I am sick and tired of you treating me as one."

He advanced, as if to intimidate her. She was suddenly all too aware of his broad shoulders, stretching the dark material of his tux, his lean waist, and the flat landscape of his abdomen that she fondled so often. Her gaze dropped below his waist and she licked her lips.

The Uchiha caught the gesture, mesmerized for a moment by the tantalizing movement of the wet muscle. "You agreed to the terms, Sakura, I-"

"Yes." She interrupted. "I did agree, so?" She challenged. "I just might not agree anymore."

"This arrangement does not work like that, Sakura."

"Exactly," She exclaimed, "That," She jabbed a finger at his chest, "is what infuriates me, arrangement," She spat the word as if it was vile, "You speak like I am some sort of-of a-a whore, your whore," She sighed, "I am not your whore, Sasuke, I am not." She clenched her hands in the fabric of his tux and buried her face in his chest, inhaling his spicy, male scent.

The Uchiha sighed. "No, you're not my whore, nor you are anybody's whore, Sakura, but," He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing, "You know why I keep what we have in the dark."

"Yes, yes." She whined childishly, "You don't want anyone to know of your _liaison_ with a certain Latin dancer," She sighed lustfully, "That's a shame, when did a good, sexy salsa ever do anyone any harm, hmm?"

She plastered herself to her lover's body for emphasis, nuzzling his chin lovingly. The Uchiha growled then bent his head to capture her lips.

The rosette poured herself wholeheartedly into the kiss, moaning keenly when the Uchiha captured her tongue between his own lips, she all but melted when he started to suck gently.

She fisted his jacket, then unbuttoned the dark garment when it was no longer satisfactory, she slid her hands up and down his back, over his pristine white shirt, and he took possession of her soul in one kiss.

He broke apart from her, holding her at the shoulders. His breath came out in short staccato, much like her own. She smiled sweetly at him, and he could not find it in him to return the action.

Her smile dropped. "Look, if you're so angry, I am sorry, I just needed to-" She was cut off when he clasped her wrist and began dragging her back where they came from.

"Sas-Sasuke, what are you doing?" In her heart, she somehow knew what he planned, and as her mind screamed at her to stop him, her heart smiled and wanted nothing more.

"Giving you what you want." He answered briefly, still dragging her. This time, the dancers were oblivious to their entrance, caught up in a lively country dance.

His parents were standing to the side, enjoying each other's company, alone, thankfully, his mother giggled at something his father said.

"Mom," He started when he was near them, Sakura glanced at him with panicked eyes, suddenly feeling less like the confident minx and more like the insecure girl she really was, "Dad, there's someone you need to meet."

The Uchiha turned to Sakura, "Sakura, these are my parents." Sakura stupidly bobbed her head in greeting, plastering a shaky smile on her face, she tugged on Sasuke's wrist relentlessly, trying to stop him, trying to tell him that this isn't what she wanted.

"Mom, dad, this Sakura," He smirked at her, a rascal's grin, then finished, "My wife."

She didn't know whose gasp was louder, hers or that of his parents, Uchiha Fugaku looked like he was in danger of suffering a heart attack, the medic in her began to calculate the shortness of his breath and the drops of sweat rolling down his face.

"Is this some sort of joke?" He finally said, growling out the words in a low menacing tone.

"No, father, this is Uchiha Sakura, my wife." Brazenly, he kissed his mother on the cheek. "I'll bid you, good night, then."

With that, he grasped Sakura's hand and exited the manor. Tears gathered in her eyes but she remained silent, as they got into his Austen Martin and drove off into the night.

They arrived at the house he purchased for her shortly, the maid greeted them with a smile, but that soon fell when she noted the tense atmosphere between the two.

Once in their bedroom, Sasuke began to undress, he threw his jacket haphazardly onto a chair, his shirt soon followed, and then his pants.

Like a good wife, Sakura picked up the garments, and neatly hang them in the closet. She heard the sound of the shower running and she bit her lip.

Then she sighed and she reached for the back of the dress, luckily, the dress had popper fastenings which made it easy to take off, she slipped out of her heels, and let the red fabric pool at her feet.

Sasuke did not say anything when he heard her come in to the shower, he did not do a thing when she began to wash his back, then rain soft, loving kissed on his skin.

"I missed you." She whispered against his ear, licking the lobe slightly, "You were gone for the longest time."

Sasuke's lips turned up in a smirk, the minx could always entice him, no matter how rotten his mood was, hell, he wanted her right now, even though, he might have just got himself disowned.

"Didn't you miss me, too?" Her hands trailed down his torso, they played at his narrow hips for bit, then skimmed all the way to his thighs, caressing the wet skin.

The Uchiha growled, irritated at her teasing, he clasped her dainty hands in his, forcefully pulling it to where he wanted most.

A low grunt escaped his lips as she stroked him, kissing the space between his shoulder blades, lovingly.

His hips began to move out of his own volition, until he could not handle it anymore. He spun around, pushing his wife towards the wall, trapping her with his elbow.

His lips captured her own, forcefully claiming what was his, she moaned, a deep guttural sound. His hands travelled down her sides, then up again, claiming the heavy globes of her ample breasts. The rosette moved relentlessly against him, eager to get more of him.

His callused thumbs fumbled with her rose nubs. Air became a necessity, and he tore his lips off of hers, he placed wet kisses on the column of her throat.

The Uchiha located her pulse point and sucked, drawing keen, whiny noises from her. He bent his head and latched onto her left breast with his mouth, fondling the other one.

His free hand trailed down her torso, cupping her firm , flat belly, then skimming lower, until he was touching the most intimate area of her body. Sakura all but screamed with pleasure, a pleasure which he had denied her for the past three months.

Briefly, he concluded that she was ready and positioned himself at her entrance. With one strong thrust, he was sheathed deep inside her, he groaned, stilling for a few heartbeats to relish the moment.

Sakura gasped for air, her leg came up to wrap around his waist in a movement that she'd done so many times, it was almost as if they were dancing a sultry tango.

The Uchiha began a movement as ancient as time, her sheath was gripping him so tightly, he was enveloped in welcoming, and delightful heat.

Sakura raked her fingers down her husband's back, taking his earlobe into her mouth and whispering encouragements into his ear.

Sasuke heeded her requests and moved faster, until he could not control his thrusts anymore, they were both panting, eager to reach that familiar, utter bliss.

Sakura could feel the telltale knots starting to form in her belly, frantically, she sought his lips, claiming them fervently.

Her back arched, and she felt herself take a free fall off of the edge, Sasuke growled, low, in her ear, eager to follow her. Her walls clamped down on him, she tore her mouth from him and cried out.

Dipping his hips strongly, Sasuke spent himself inside her, he continued his erratic thrusts until she went limp in his arms, he slowed down gradually, until he was still, yet not ready to leave her warmth.

They breathed in unison, both gasping for air, and hanging on to each other for dear life. Sasuke was the first to recover, and he was aware once more of the water still showering over them.

He pulled out of her, lowering her leg to the floor and holding her under the water. They washed each other's bodies, sneaking fervent kisses in between.

Somehow, they stumbled onto the bed, wet skin and all, still worshipping each other until each brought the other over the edge once more.

Sasuke rolled to his side, his hand covering his face. His wife followed suit, laying her head on his sweaty chest. They would have to take another shower, separately, since she knew that they had no hope in simply washing if they did take the shower together.

Sasuke curled an arm around her possessively and plastered her to his side, his other hand went to her face, caressing the side of her face, then her upper lip.

"I cannot believe," He whispered, "that I just destroyed my life for you, and yet I can't keep my hands off of you." His lips turned up in a smirk, "Minx." He chided.

Sakura smiled slyly at him. "That's why you love me." She countered. "And," Her eyes trailed downwards, "I didn't mean for you destroy yourself for me, I," She sighed heavily, and climbed on top of him, caressing his chest, "I was hurt, I mean, Sasuke, I love you so much, and it hurts me to be your dirty little secret, I wanted to get back at you." She admitted guiltily, "It was stupid."

The Uchiha shook his head. "Not anymore, Sakura, you're not my secret anymore, if dad doesn't land himself in the hospital, I am sure that he would bite my head off tomorrow."

She turned up her lips. "Sasuke, do you think that he'd disown you? I mean, you said that he hadn't talked to Itachi in years."

"No, I don't think that eloping is as bad joining a hard rock band." He shook his head. "He just needs to calm down, think it through, then he'll ask to meet you and he'll like you, mom would too."

"And if he asks what I do?" She raised an eyebrow, in a clear challenge.

Sasuke sighed tiredly. "Then, we'll have to tell him the truth, don't we?"

Sakura scoffed, "Yeah, he'd sure get a heart attack then, don't joke, Sasuke." She placed her chin on his smooth chest.

"No, Sakura, I mean, sure, doctor is not on dad's list of Top Ten Career Choices, but he'll have to deal."

"Doctor?" She echoed, unsure.

Sasuke began to stroke her sides, "Yes, Sakura, a doctor, you love Latin dancing, I know, hell , I love it when you dance, and yet, it's not who you are, you are an intern who did what she had to do to pursue a superior education, dance or no dance, Sakura, you'll be a doctor in no time, it's your dream. That's who you really are, that's who I married."

Sakura's hand flew to her face, trapping the tears that trailed down her cheeks. She never wanted to show him weakness, she never wanted to cry in front of him.

"Sometimes, sometimes, I wish you didn't convince me to marry you, Sasuke." She whispered, "Sometimes, I wish that dumbass of a best friend of yours hadn't dragged you to the club on his bachelor night." She giggled tearfully, "It was kind of fate, wasn't it?" She surmised, "If Ino hadn't dragged me to the club as well, we wouldn't have met, or fell in love, would we?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah, I am sure fate wanted to set up a dirty little dancer and an uptight lawyer."

Sakura giggled, a heartfelt sound that made Sasuke smile, "Well, after the way that you swept me off the floor, swaying your hips like a pro, I wouldn't call you uptight."

Sasuke laughed lazily, rubbing her back in slow circles. Feeling that he was quickly tiring, Sakura kissed his cheek and bid him goodnight, holding him close.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered tiredly, when she hummed in reply, he said, "That dress, the one you wore tonight,"

"What of it?" She mumbled.

"If you ever wear it outside again, I'll burn it." Feeling satisfied, he drifted to sleep, leaving his wife struggling not to giggle.

Sasuke has always been possessive, glaring at fellow med students that get a tad too close, barking at waiters when they stare at her for one second too many on the rare occasion that he takes her out.

When Sakura married the son and heir to Fugaku Uchiha, ruler and modern king of Oto Isle, she did not know what to expect, she knew that it would be hard, it was hard, and yet she would not trade it for any marriage.

Sasuke woke up fairly early, the sun streams were barely visible through the drapes, he reached for his wife only to come back empty handed. He frowned, opening his eyes, the sheets were rumpled but cool to the touch, signaling that she woke up much earlier than he.

He sat up, rubbing his hand across his face, then headed for the bathroom. After he showered, he donned a pair of grey sweatpants and a black wife beater.

He found his wife in the kitchen, humming a cheerful tune, she was swaying her hips slightly, and watching over the stove. Something was sizzling in the pan and the scent of eggs and bacon invaded his nostrils.

She was dressed in a red pair of shorts and a whitish camisole that showed the butterfly tattoo on her lower back, Sasuke shook his head. His wife has never been the kind to be shy over her body, not that she had any reason to be, she was always outgoing with her clothes, going for vibrant colors and bold outfits.

The toast machine beeped and she turned to get it, her eyes landed on him then and she smiled brightly. "Good morning, baby, sleep well?" She asked absentmindedly, placing the food on two separate plates.

"Yeah, you?" She hummed her agreement. "Where's Mika?"

"Gave her the week off."

Sasuke smirked, she always did that when he was around, she'd hired the maid at his request, accepting the girl's help with the daily chores, and yet whenever he visited, she made sure that they were alone, and that she provided anything he needed.

"Come, your food will get cold." She tucked a damp lock, from a recent shower no doubt, behind her ear and placed the two plates of food on the small dining table.

She poured a red beverage into one cup and an orange juice into another.

"Is that tomato juice?" He asked, already licking his lips, absentmindedly, in want of the tick red liquid.

The rosette smiled knowingly. "Yup, made it just now."

He felt like kissing her in gratitude, he also noticed the slices of tomatoes on his plate. Even though she despised the fruit, not vegetable no matter what anyone said, she still had it ready in the fridge, for him.

"Come on," She urged, "Don't just stand there." She pecked his lips when he finally moved to the table, caressing his cheek.

"How long are you staying?" She asked, sipping her cup of orange juice and taking a bite out of her sunny-side-up eggs.

"Just the weekend." He replied, catching the quick fall of her expression, the way that her lips turned down, and her eyes lost the sparkle, instead they were shiny with a thin film of moisture.

"I want you to come to the city."

She kept her head down when she replied, "Well, of course, silly, I only have this time off, I'll be back in two weeks."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, Sakura, I don't mean the city as in the hospital, I want you to stop living in limbo, I'll find a new job for Mika, you won't need her in the penthouse."

He waited for the implication of his words to sink in, watching the shift in her expression, from sad to excited, to confused.

"Sas-Sasuke, you want me to-to…" She couldn't seem to find the words, the right words.

"I want you to live with me, permanently, in my apartment in the city, we'll think about what to do with this house, two weeks should be enough, right?"

Her eyes watered, and she sniffled much like a child, biting her lip to keep herself from wailing, she bound out of her chair and into his arms.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and rained kisses on his face. "You're serious, right? You won't change your mind? I can be your wife for real, now?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, Sakura, you're not my little secret anymore." He sighed, holding her closer in his arms as she straddled his thighs, "Sakura, the things you said yesterday, well," He sighed exasperatedly, he hated it when he couldn't find the right words, "It made a lot of sense, what you said, I shouldn't have to hide what we have because it's not bad, and it's not shameful, I am not ashamed of you, Sakura, or of what you did, I was a coward to make you believe that I am, and that's going to change." He nodded firmly, "You're my wife, and that's the way that you'll be recognized from now on, I won't hurt you anymore."

Sakura shook her head and laid it against his firm chest. "No, Sasuke, don't say that, you never hurt me." She kissed his throat, "You're always good to me."

"I'll take time off, and then I'll take you on a belated honeymoon, off of the island, anywhere you want. We could even have a real wedding-"

"Shh," She whispered, placing her finger on his lips, "It was real to me, Sasuke, so, so real, and everyone that mattered to me was there, Ino was there, the idiot, too. I even got to put on a white dress, it was good enough."

Sasuke nodded, burying his nose in her pink curls for the moment, after a while, he finally said, "I left my phone in the living room yesterday, get it for me?"

She nodded and slid off of his lap to fetch the cellular device. Sasuke took the chance to rub at his temples, mentally, he readied himself for the chaos that he ensued and that he'd now face.

Sakura returned and slid the black device onto of his lips, she began to gather the plates and pile them on the sink. Sasuke toyed with the phone then shook his head.

"What's up?" She asked, turning to wash the dishes.

"I had my phone off, I am trying to decide whether to turn it on, or not." He finally sighed and pressed the on button.

"How bad is it?" Sakura called over her shoulder, trying with all her might to feign calmness, even though her insides were flipping at the thought of the consequences of Sasuke's confession.

"Just twenty three missed calls, I thought they'd be more."

Twenty were from his father's part, thirteen from his personal phone and seven from his secretary's phone, the remaining three were from his mother.

He shook his head and pressed redial, the phone barely rung and he heard his mother's frantic voice.

"_Sasuke, thank god, I've been trying to call you all night long."_

"I had it off, mom, how's dad?"

"_As well as could be expected, he's furious though. Sasuke, sweetheart, was last night some sort of joke? Some misplaced humor perhaps?"_

"No, mom, it's as serious as any marriage is, Sakura is my wife, legally my wife." He replied, Sakura was leaning against the sink, her head bowed. He snapped his fingers at her to catch her attention, when she looked up he shook his head not to worry. It's fine. He mouthed.

"_Well, that is…sudden, I'd like to know what this is about, Sasuke, ok?"_

"I'd like that as well, but it shouldn't be where dad is, you need to understand first, and then, maybe you could make him understand."

"_Sure, of course, Starbucks?" _

"We already had breakfast, how about you meet for lunch? Just you and her," He could see Sakura shake her head frantically at him, "And I need to talk to dad."

"_Ok, sweetheart, we'll meet in the café by the town's square at one o'clock, is that alright?"_

"That'd be great." He replied, then added, "You'll love her mom, just as much as I did, just give her a chance, ok?"

"_For you, I will, Sasuke, I will."_

Sasuke hang up the phone then stood. "She said she'll meet you in the café near the town's square for lunch."

Sakura nodded dejectedly. "What am I supposed to say?"

"The truth, " Sasuke replied, "Don't leave out a thing."

"Ok, Sasuke, if you say so."

At twelve thirty, Sasuke was dressed in a pristine black suit when Sakura emerged from the walk-in closet.

He raised an eyebrow at her choice of attire, she was dressed in a black dress, short sleeved and reaching all the way to her knees. She slipped on a necklace of wooden beads which covered her neck and the skin exposed by the square neckline. A beige wrap blazer was draped over her arm as she slipped into her tall beige heels, her hair was gathered in a messy side bun, while her nails were painted a nude color.

She took her place at the dresser and applied basic makeup, going for neutral colors. Sasuke nearly coughed with surprise when she slipped the blazer on, tying the bow that secured the beige fabric.

"Sakura, is that you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't mock, I want to make an impression, meeting your mother in my hippie's clothes as you call them, didn't seem like a good idea." She shrugged. "Are you meeting me for dinner?"

He grunted his agreement. "Do you want to go out or…"

"No." She replied, "I feel like cooking, I'll make your favorite, so don't be late." She tapped his chest in warning, reaching up to peck his lips in a chaste, sweet kiss.

When they pulled apart, he reached for his keys. "I'll drive you."

Sakura arrived at the designated café just in time; she feared that she would go into hyperventilation in nervousness. The rosette took a deep breath and walked forward, her beige pumps clicking against the pavement.

The door chimed when she entered, her eyes landed on the Uchiha matriarch almost immediately, she swallowed nervously.

Uchiha Mikoto was a vision in her prim and proper brown wrap dress, her legs were crossed elegantly, accentuating the brown heels she wore, Sakura admired the way that the women artfully did her makeup, not striking, yet beautiful, pearls rested against Mikoto's neck.

Sakura approached her table, unconsciously adjusting her blazer, Mikoto stood when she spotted her, she put out her hand for and Sakura shook her hand.

"Mrs. Uchiha, it's an honor."

"An honor, indeed." Mikoto returned, "Please, do sit." She gestured with her hand to the seat, Sakura smiled demurely and took her seat.

Everything about Mikoto Uchiha screamed elegance and good breed, no wonder Sasuke was always so pristine in his clothing and manner, he had a mother such as the formidable woman sitting before her.

"I took the liberty of ordering lunch, I hope that agrees with you."

Sakura nodded hurriedly. "Of course, it's…fine." The rosette inhaled. "Mrs. Uchiha, I-"

Mikoto held up her hand. "Sakura, is it okay if I call you Sakura?" She continued when Sakura nodded her agreement. "When Sasuke was young, he was very fragile, prone to fever, stomachaches and every other illness you could imagine, I am not sure if you know this but he was born premature." Mikoto sighed, "I've always coddled him, trying to protect him any way I could, I guess you could imagine my shock when my baby announces that he married a woman that I know nothing about, woman of questionable origins."

Mikoto seized her daughter-in-law with a pointed look. "Miss Sakura, I am not usually a discriminating woman, I don't look down on people, and I taught my boy not to look down on people; so I will ask you right now, one question that you have to answer."

Sakura nodded dumbly, feeling her pulse quicken, and her skin begin to clam.

"Can you, knowing Sasuke's social status and position, be a wife for him? Sakura, Sasuke is the heir to a business empire, the Uchihas run this island, and he is a successful lawyer in his own right, I am not critiquing your person, but can you fit into his life?"

Tears gather in the corners of Sakura's eyes, out of all the questions that she imagined her husband's mother asking her, that was the one that she feared the most. Her heart hammered in her chest, she could feel the beats in her temples, her breath shortened and she felt her windpipes closing and her lungs collapsing on her.

"I," She started but the words that she practiced in her head all morning failed her, all of the sudden, she felt like the illiterate fool her father accused her of being. A tear slid down her cheek and she stumbled out of her chair. "I-I am sorry, M-Mrs. Uchiha, I c-can't d- I-I am sorry."

She all but flew towards the door, outside, she heaved for breath, she walked at a brisk pace for a block or two, fighting the tears and gasping for a breath or two; she clawed at her throat, loosening her blazer until she shrugged out of it all together, draping it over her arm.

Reaching the town's square, she collapsed onto a chair. Her mind danced with turbulent thoughts, and her hart ached. Mikoto's words struck a nerve, she echoed the very same doubts that Sakura had before agreeing to marry Sasuke.

In one second, the Uchiha matriarch shattered every hope that Sakura harbored for the past two years; she reminded her about the nobody that she was and how she was unsuited for the Uchiha heir.

It didn't matter what she said to her, or the excuses she made, love surely wouldn't change anything, in that one answer to that one question that Mikoto asked, Sakura knew the truth. Mikoto knew it, and there was nothing to change that.

As if on cue, her phone vibrated, knowing who it was, she reached into her clutch and pulled out her phone, she wiped at her eyes and cleared her throat.

"Hey, baby." She greeted softly, hoping that the Uchiha wouldn't detect her anguish.

"_Sakura, what happened? Mom said that you bolted."_

"I know, I know, baby." She replied, her voice starting to quiver. "I j-just had to, uh, I could-" Her voice shook and she cut herself of in fear of choking in sobs.

There was a long pause then, _"Where are you? I'll come get you."_

Sakura inhaled deeply and shook her head, cursing herself when she remembered that he couldn't see her. "No, no, I'll stop by the supermarket, I'll get a few things and I'll start on dinner, don't worry, ok?" She swallowed. "Ok, baby?"

"_Ok, I'll get there when I can; see you later."_

The phone call ended and Sakura picked herself off of the bench, with sure steps she headed towards the town's supermarket.

Once in the house she slipped out of her prim clothes and slipped into a floral blue maxi skirt, a pink tank top and a crocheted square top.

She started sorting her groceries, she started on the onigiris, preparing the tomato based filling, then the rice.

Sakura sat at the table, rolling up rice balls. Once finished, she moved to the steaks, preparing a side dish of roasted cherry tomatoes.

In spite of herself, she cracked eggs in a bowel of floor. A smile adorned her face as she shaped a pie crust and placed it in the oven, Sakura wiped her hands on her apron and peeked into the fridge. Rubbing her chin to figure out a proper filling; absentmindedly, she reached for the carton of strawberry's remembering her husband mentioning that they were Mikoto's favorite.

It was almost like she didn't know what she was doing, as if someone else took over; she took the pie out of the oven, wrapped it in tin foil and left a note for her husband.

It was only when she rang the doorbell to the Uchiha manor, pie in hands, that she realized where she was, it was too late, though, she took a deep breath and smiled at the housekeeper.

"Hello, is Mrs. Uchiha here?"

The maid seemed shocked, seeing a rose haired girl in blues and pinks must have been a shock, she could only nod. "W-why, yes, and who might you be?"

Sakura raised her head high and smiled, "Mrs. Uchiha." She replied. "I am Mrs. Uchiha, and I would like to have a word with my mother-in-law."

"I-I d-don't know what to do, please come in, I'll talk to the Mrs."

Mikoto seemed just as shocked. "Sakura," She glanced at the treat in Sakura's hand then back at the rosette's face. "What are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Uchiha, I prepared a strawberry pie, for you." She shrugged. "Sasuke said that it was your favorite, and I made it for you." She smiled. "The thing is, Sasuke said a lot of things, about you, about his father, about Itachi, and I was always a bit envious," She rushed out, she felt like she was on a spree. "Just a bit, see I never had a family, well, not never, never mind, really." The rosette waved her hand in the air to dismiss the matter.

Mikoto stared at her as if she was crazy, she covered her mouth with her hand, to mask her shock no doubt.

"You asked me this morning, if I was right for your son, well, truth is, I don't know, really, I don't know, I mean as-" She turned towards the maid and placed the pie in her hands, "Here, this is getting hot. "

"Where was I? oh, yes, I have absolutely no idea if I am good for Sasuke, but I do know this, that woman you saw this morning, in a prim black dress and a blazer, that wasn't me, hell, the blazer isn't even mine, I borrowed it, from a friend, to get to an interview, and I never gave it back." Sakura inhaled. "I guess that says something about me, I borrow things that I always forget to give back, I dress in colorful clothes," She picked up her skirt then let it fall to the ground, "Or, in your son's words, in hippie's clothes."

Mikoto could not help but giggle at that, she looked at the rosette as if she lost her mind, and Sakura thought that that might be true.

"I make pies, randomly, they're the best things I make, my mom taught me how, I make them and I give them, just like now. The thing is, Mrs. Uchiha, I am weird, I am really bizarre, like extinct species bizarre, it's crazy, but for some odd reason," She barked a laugh, "With some miracle, your son loves me, and I love him, too, I don't know what that changes for you, but that's the truth, and the only truth I know. I'll tell you everything about me, how we met, why we met, and then you can judge." Sakura shrugged her shoulders in surrender, biting her lower lip, and wringing her hands.

"Sit, Sakura." Mikoto finally said, "We'll talk."

Sakura nodded, feeling relieved that the Uchiha matriarch did not kick her out on the spot for her sudden bout of insanity.

She sat carefully on a crème colored couch, Mikoto smoothed her pencil skirt then gracefully lowered herself onto the opposite armchair.

"Tell me, what makes you so special, to my son, I mean?"

Sakura laughed nervously, rubbing at the back of her head, a habit that she learned from her husband's best friend. "I don't know about special, but I'll start from the beginning." She tucked a loose tendril of hair. "I am an intern, well I was, I am starting my residency after this time off." Mikoto seemed surprised.

"I hate to give you a sob story, but you see, my father took off when I was nine, and even before then, he wasn't all that great, my mother got sick when I was eleven, she lasted for about four years and then she passed away."

"I am sorry for your loss." Mikoto said tactfully.

"It was a long time ago, you see, mom was a doctor, so her insurance covered all the expenses, but when she died," Sakura huffed, "there was no one to cover my expenses, I was fifteen and with no family to speak off, no source of income, so I did the only thing I could do,"

A haunted look took over Mikoto's expression, her lips parted and her eyes widened, "Sakura-"

"No, no, no, it's nothing like that, my mom, she was a great cook, she taught me a lot of things and I grew almost just as passionate with food as she was, with help from some of her friends, I landed a job at a restaurant," Mikoto sighed in relief, "It paid fairly well, I worked hard and got scholarships so I wouldn't worry about tuitions and I rented a room with a nice lady, she was a Latina, and she loved to dance, she taught me, and I picked up on it, falling in love with it, as I got into college, the job in the restaurant didn't cover the daily expenses anymore, the textbooks, the field trips etc." She took a deep breath. "I joined a dance group, we did contests and we danced in these big shows, it paid much better than the cooking job, it was never dirty, it was never bad and I was never ashamed of it, Sasuke was okay with it too, but I was the one that suggested to keep it a secret, it wouldn't do for Sasuke Uchiha to associate himself with a woman that danced her way through college." She smiled at the older woman, "Sasuke and I met at a club, two years ago, I was dancing for the heck of it by then, and we just instantly liked each other, besides, he was a good dancer so," She shrugged.

"Sasuke ?" Mikoto echoed disbelievingly, "Sasuke danced?"

"Yeah, he's quite good at it, comes with the genius brains I guess, anyway, we started seeing each other, by the third month he asked me to marry him, just like that, I didn't agree until two months after that, and we've been together ever since."

Mikoto remained silent for a good while, then she sighed and she straightened her skirt, crossing her legs at the ankles. "Well, I suppose it's my turn to judge, now."

The rosette nodded, feeling self-conscious, "Yeah, yeah, it is."

"Let me tell you this, Sakura, I cannot begin to pretend that I understand this, what you and my son share, it's odd, for two strangers to simply fall in love, I am still not sure if you love my son, or love the life that he gave you after the hard time that you suffered through, I cannot relate to that, however, I am glad that Sasuke picked a tough woman, if you plan to blend into Sasuke's life, you need that, the toughness, you're a survivor, god knows you'll be doing a lot of surviving."

The older woman stood, straightening her outfit. "Dinner is served at exactly six forty five, Fugaku doesn't seem to be planning to join us, so we might as well start without him."

Sakura opened her mouth to decline just as the front door opened and footsteps rapidly approached. Her husband appeared, he made a beeline towards her and plastered her to his side, she bowed her head in embarrassment, a blush taking over her face.

"I got your note, are you okay? You sounded real off to me earlier."

"She's as fine as she'll ever be." It was Mikoto that answered. "Come on, you two, it's six fifty, we're already five minutes late, Rina, set up an extra spot."

Sakura felt a sudden crush of relief bubble inside her, she wasn't a fool, she knew that it would take a while, even years, for her to be accepted completely, but looking at her husband's amused face, she was ready to face anything.

"Come," He urged, "Wouldn't want to upset the general."

* * *

Well, um, I am blushing like crazy now, but I guess that's the beauty of FFn, you could post all the things you need and no one would judge your character for it.

Well, any feedback is appreciated, I'd love advice, what did you think of the plot?

Hirokiri, I appreciated your review on Teacher's love, you are right, I do find myself inclined to historical fics, in fact, you'll be happy to know that I have several plots in my head, I just need to figure out which one to execute first.

ps. I started a Polyvore account, from now own, I'll post the links for the outfits in each story on my profile page, so check them out.


	2. Facing it all

A lot of you have asked for a sequel, and guess what, last night, inspiration hit, and I started typing like crazy, I decided to turn this into a full multi-chap, I have the plot all worked out in my head, at least, I think I do, enough talk, here is chapter two, let me know what you think, review

* * *

There were many things that Sakura adored about her husband's penthouse. The Jacuzzi for one, she loved to lounge in the bubbly bath with her husband when he was feeling particularly accommodating. She would lean against him, with her back to his chest, while sitting in his lap, and they would talk about sweet nothings and make up for the time they spend apart.

She was also crazy about his bookcase, it took up an entire wall, and it had a vast collection of manuscripts, some even medical, she had many fine memories where she would curl up in the loveseat she personally chose for him, and read a good novel. Sasuke was particularly obsessed with crime novels so she always had her fill of those.

A personal favorite of hers was the view. Once you passed the hallway, you would find yourself in a living room surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows from all four directions. At sunset time, the crèmes furniture of the living room would be painted in all sorts of gold and orange hues, and you could see the tall buildings of the town of Konoha.

The kitchen was also great, fully equipped and painted in rich browns and light beiges, she loved to cook her husband's favorite meals there.

She was crazy about a lot of things, she loved so many little details about his, or their home, his bedroom was not one of them.

"Sasuke," Sakura started, her hands on her hips, "Baby, I love you, but I am _not _sleeping in a midnight blue bedroom."

Sasuke sighed and continued to dry his hair, dressed in nothing but a pair of sweats. "Sakura-"

"Don't you Sakura me." She interrupted. "Sasuke, it's-it's…_blue._"

He raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by her situation. Her hands were flailing, flying all over the place in a bid to emphasize her point.

"I am aware." He said dryly, just to rile her up some more, he loved the way she looked when she was angry.

"I am aware that you are aware, Sasuke." She hissed. "I am not sleeping in a blue room, I mean it."

Her husband sighed once more, his wife was a bit obsessed when it came to colors, she abhorred dark, sinister colors. He looked around what used to be his bedroom, the walls were painted navy blue, there was a large off white rug covering the hardwood floor, his bed sheets were an assortment of different shades of grey.

The floor-to-ceiling window was covered with light blue blinds. A settee in white sat at the foot of the king sized bed.

His desk and bookshelf, smaller than the one in the living room were black in color, as to the doors to the closet, the bathroom and the room itself, they were all painted white.

He could see nothing wrong with it. "Exactly, what do you want the room to look like?" He asked, doubtfully, the room that his wife stayed in before was painted in a collage of all sorts of colors, in dark and light hues. He believed wholeheartedly that it had every color in the damn spectrum.

"I don't know, some color, blue, white, grey, black, these are all neutral." Her shoulders slumped. "These are all depressing."

She flopped on the bed, the floral material of her maxi dress rising in the air for a moment, she lied back, the large pillow supporting her back.

Sasuke threw the damp towel into the hamper and crawled in beside her. When she failed to acknowledge him, he sighed, clearly defeated. "What do you want to do with it?" He asked, already regretting it.

Her smile widened. "There's not much we can do about the walls, I doubt you'd let me repaint them." He was already shaking his head at her. "I could add some color to them, though, and the bed spread, god, Sasuke, you have to let me change it."

He nodded. "What else?" Mentally growling, he had to admit though, making her happy made him feel better about himself.

"The settee is nice, I really like it, but it seems that all this," She gestured with her hand around the room, "Is wasted space."

Sasuke stared at her as she made mental notes and talked to herself about what she would do to lighten the colors, he knew that he should be alarmed. Heck, most men would have been, it almost seemed like she was taking over his lifestyle, and his life itself, but he wasn't. In fact, he was glad, and he knew that bringing Sakura here, marrying her, were the two best choices he had ever made.

"Sasuke, are you listening?"

He snapped out of his train of thoughts, he grinned at her and shook his head. "Not really, no." he admitted.

The rosette cuffed his arm playfully. "Well, you'll love it, I am sure, I still have three days before I have to go back to the hospital. I'll get it done before then."

He sighed for the umpteenth time that day then nodded. "Alright, anything else you want to change?"

She shook her head then leaned over to kiss him on the lips, she smiled into their kiss when his hand instinctively came up to cup the back of her neck.

"Thank you, Sasuke." She caressed his cheek, then kissed him again, murmuring a good night.

* * *

It was…not bad, Sasuke had to admit when he returned from work the following day, at eight in the evening to find Sakura admiring her handy work.

It was definitely something that he could live with. The bedspread was changed, instead of grey, it was now a mesh of gold and brown. She kept the lush carpet, and changed the curtains into a yellowish color, that was so light it could almost pass for off-white.

The settee was pushed all the way to the corner by the window, a dark red loveseat formed an angle with the now white bookcase, the desk was white too, and added little trinkets to adorn the wood.

The walls were covered with frames, some of flowers, others of nature, he noted that they were all light in color. She also added a pair of white nightstands, there was a picture of their wedding day in it, her in a white tube dress and silver heels that almost made her as tall as him. He was dressed in a black suit, his arm wrapped around her waist possessively.

There was another of the same day, with Naruto and Ino posing with them, smiles as bright as sunshine on their faces.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, biting her lips nervously and fisting the material of her black tank top.

"It's good." He replied. "Better than I expected." He looked around once more. "What did you do with the desk and bookcase?"

"I painted them." She replied nervously. "It was a quick-dry paint, so don't worry about any of it getting on your stuff."

He dropped his jacket on the newly bought red loveseat and approached the bookcase to inspect her work. He ran his finger down the length of it and nodded. "You did pretty good." He praised, gifting her with a rare smile.

She returned his smile with one of her own and she approached him, latching her arms around his neck and she pecked him on the lips.

"How was your day?" She asked when they broke apart. "Did you have dinner yet?"

Sasuke was amused at the way that she did not wait for him to answer the first question. "It was relatively good, and yes, I did have something at the office."

He was not surprised when she pouted. "I wanted to cook." She whined.

Sasuke huffed. "You can cook some other day." He felt like he was placating a child of two years.

The rosette regarded him with something close to suspicion, she narrowed her eyes at him. "You say you had 'something', what's this something , I wonder?" She clapped her hands. "Not good. I'll make you a fruit salad." She announced and started towards the kitchen, her husband hot on her tail, she did not leave room for protest.

"It's really not neccesar-"

"Pish posh." She interrupted, already rummaging through the fridge, she picked out an apple, a banana, a kiwi and several strawberries.

"You know I am not crazy about sweet stuff, Sakura." He argued, taking out a bottle of water, he shook his head as he unscrewed it, she ignored him completely and started on chopping the fruits.

"I don't want you to end up anemic, Sasuke, you know there are a lot of those at the hospital." She said. "Most of them are teenage girls, you know, the ones obsessed with weight and stuff." She waved the knife around, as if to explain to him, "And then, there are others," She raised her head and smiled at him, "Others like you, baby, others that don't really feel hungry." She pointed her knife at him. "Just because you don't feel hungry, doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat."

Sasuke could not help but laugh before taking another sip of his water. She was right, he knew she was, he had an issue with food, he tended to forget to eat, there were times where he went without any sustenance for twenty four hours or even more, not that he was watching his weight or anything like that, he just forgets.

"This is no laughing matter, Sasuke." Sakura exclaimed, her cheeks tinged pink with annoyance, he loved that, he always loved the way that her face would color when she was mad, it tended to turn red at the slightest provocation, good or bad."Anemia is serious, I don't want you to be sick." She shook her head to emphasize her points.

"Since, I know that you can't help forgetting, I want you to start on supplements."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Supplements?"

"Yeah, yeah." She scooped the fruits into a bowl and squeezed half a lemon over them, she then walked towards him and placed the bowl, as well as a fork, into his hands. "Vitamins and minerals, they don't substitute real food, mind you, but they'll help you get through the day, think about it." She rose on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Eat up."

* * *

Sasuke resisted the urge to curse his wife as he, bent over the toilet seat, emptied the contents of his stomach for what felt like that umpteenth time.

His forehead was bathed in perspiration, cold, fat beads of sweat, and his whole body was in pain; his muscles would lock up every five minutes, and he would have to wretch.

Sakura came padding into the bathroom, a tall glass of water in her hands. She crouched next to him and rubbed his back.

"How are you feeling?" She whispered, placing the glass of water on the tiled floor.

Sasuke shifted his head ever so slightly and fixed her with a pointed stare, she winced sheepishly. "I am so sorry, Sasuke." She caressed his damp hair. "How was I to know that your stomach is too sensitive to supplements?"

Sasuke chose not to answer, wincing as a new bout of cramps seized his abdomen. He had just enough time to turn his head before he was, once again, vomiting. He inhaled, panting for air, when he was done.

"Take my phone." He instructed weakly. "Call the office and tell them that I won't be coming in."

Sakura nodded, guilt dripping out of her eyes, and she stood to do as told. She found Sasuke's phone sitting idly on the nightstand.

It was seven thirty in the morning, and her husband had been throwing up since six in the morning, he told her that the pain woke him up.

She cracked her eyes open the second she heard him racing towards the bathroom, she raced after him to find him bent over the toilet.

Sakura searched through his contacts, once she had the correct number, she pressed dial and waited.

It rang once.

"_Uchiha law firm, how may I help you?" _

A receptionist, she assumed she was a receptionist, exclaimed in a sugar sweet voice, Sakura had to wrinkle her noise in disgust.

"Hi, this is Sasuke Uchiha's phone," She heard fumbling as the receptionist, no doubt, fumbled to check if it was really the number, Sakura, mentally, shook her head. "I'd like to inform you that he is out with the flu, "She lied, "And won't be able to come in today."

There was a pause. _"Mr. Uchiha is taking a sick day?" _Sakura could hear the disbelief dripping out of the receptionist's voice.

"Yes, he-"

"_But he never gets sick."_

Sakura huffed in annoyance. "Well, he is now!" She snapped. "Good day, miss." She hurriedly ended the call, enraged at the girl's stupidity.

She went back to the bathroom to find her husband leaning against the wall, his eyes closed his face pale.

She bit her lip, pained by the state that he was in, she crouched next to him and brought his head to rest on her lap, she brushed his dark bangs with her fingers, massaging his head.

Sasuke suddenly moaned in irritation. "I forgot about the damn papers." He complained, he made a move to stand but Sakura pulled him back.

"Where do you think you're going? What papers?"

"Notes, Kin needs my notes for her opening argument, it's an important case." His head lolled to the side while he was still talking, obviously exhausted.

"Can't you just email them or something?"

He shook his head, adjusting his head on her lap and leaning further into her touch. "They need to be delivered by hand. It's an important case."

Sakura nodded; "Let me get you to bed, then I'll take them for you, how's that?"

Sasuke started to shake his head then thought against. "You'd go for me?"

"Sure, let's get you settled in bed, first, then I'll drive to your firm, I'll be back before you know it."

Once she made sure that he was settled, she slipped into fresh clothes. She dressed in a blue printed tunic and jeans, she slipped into a pair of gray heels and placed the papers that she would deliver in a matching gray bag.

She placed a kiss on her husband's forehead and descended the stairs, and into her car.

The firm was bustling, the sound of clicking heels invaded her ears, suits of all colors scurried around her. She jutted her chin out and walked as if she was supposed to be here, towards the reception.

"Excuse me," She called the receptionist's attention. "Do you know where I can find Kin Yakamora?"

The receptionist tilted her head to the side. "Odd, miss, it's almost like I know you."

Sakura smiled. "I think you and I talked on the phone, a while ago, and it's Mrs." She clarified, her lips, tinted pink, still in a wide smile.

The receptionist raised both eyebrows in astonishment. "Oh, I remember, you are the one that told me that Uchiha-sama would not be coming in." She cleared her throat. "Kin Yakamora, yes, the third floor."

Sakura nodded her thanks and walked away, not giving the stupid woman the time to put two and two together.

As she was exiting the building, having delivered the papers to where they needed to be delivered, Sakura froze. She felt like her heart went into palpitation.

She stood in her place for what felt like forever, biting her lower lip and inhaling faintly to prevent herself from going into cardiac arrest.

He raised his head and spotted her. He was flanked by who appeared to be his assistant, he paused mid sentence with her and she could do nothing but bow her head dumbly.

Mikoto Uchiha and Sakura had come to what could be called an understanding, they still were not friends or anything like that, but Mikoto had accepted her as Sasuke's wife.

But Fugaku Uchiha had yet to even talk to his son, they hadn't spoken in two weeks. Sasuke told her that he had not exchanged a word with his father ever since the centennial. The older Uchiha was too stubborn in his ways.

He was standing before her now, and she had no idea as to what to say to him. Pretend ignorance and walk away, as if she could not remember his face, or walk up to him and greet him properly, as a wife should greet her father in law.

She finally inhaled and called herself a coward. She walked towards him and issued a short bow.

"Uchiha-san." She greeted in a soft voice, hoping that he wouldn't go as far as to ridicule her in front of everyone.

The older man looked her up, then down, seizing her with a condescending look. He then continued his conversation with his assistant, and walked right pass her, as if she didn't exist, as if she wasn't his son's wife.

Sakura felt rage crawl up her spine and settle itself in her head, her eyes became fiery, so fiery that one would think they were amber instead of green, she curled her lips into a sneer and said, without turning to look at him, "Sasuke's not here, he's home."

She could almost hear him pause, and she did not have to turn around to know that he had stopped, she continued with a satisfied smirk, that would have made her husband proud, "He's sick." She added.

The older Uchiha did not react for a long time, then he cleared his throat. "Is he alright?" He asked her that in a tone that suggested that it pained him to even speak to her, he talked as if hot spikes were being shoved down his throat.

She huffed and squared her shoulders, jutting her chin out, with the same courage that prompted her to walk into the centennial weeks ago, pushed her to scoff and say. "Why don't you call him and find out?"

The rosette did not give him time to react, she moved forward, her heels making loud _clacks_ against the floor as she approached her car, leaving the Uchiha patriarch to wallow in his astonishment.

She felt oddly satisfied. Sasuke was feeling better when she walked into the bedroom, he had his back propped up against an assortment of pillows and a book in his hands, it seemed that whatever irritated his stomach was flushed out that morning.

She approached him and pecked him on the lips and put her hand to his forehead to make sure that his condition did not worsen, she was glad to find that it was cool to the touch. "Did you eat anything?"

She could have sworn that he turned green at the notion of food, he vehemently shook his head and specifically told her that he did not want anything.

"Not even tomatoes?" She coaxed, with a knowing glint in her eyes, but not even the thought of his favorite food could make him eat. "Alright, maybe in a bit." She agreed.

Sasuke nodded his head, and leaned back, closing his eyes. "Did you get the documents to Kin in time?"

She nodded then bit her lip, Sasuke was immediately alarmed. "What happened?"

She shook her head crawled in beside him, then laid her head on his chest. "Nothing, it's just that I, I ran in to your father."

Sasuke sighed then curled an arm around her waist. "Did he give you a hard time?"

Sakura could not help but giggle, prompting the Uchiha to look down on her, confused. "I think I was the one that gave him a hard time, I was kind of…" She put her finger to her chin in an utterly adorable, childish way, "Mean, yes, I think I was a bit mean."

Sasuke barked out a laugh. "Mean, to my father?"

She nodded her head. "I told him you were sick, and that's why you didn't come, and then he asked about you, I could tell it hurt his pride to, and I said that if he really wanted to find out, he should just call you." She nodded for emphasis. "And then I left."

Sasuke chuckled. "You're a courageous woman." He praised. "And you'll probably live to regret it, but you're courageous."

Sakura froze. "Damn, I didn't think, he already hates me, and I didn't think at all." She whined, burying her face into her husband's shoulders.

"No." He finally said. "Dad, he likes someone with a backbone, you probably caught his attention, he'll sit and brew for a while, weighing his options, then he'll call."

True to his word, Fugaku did call, granted it was a brief two minutes call, in which, he supposedly asked about his son's health and told him that he expected him, and Sakura, for dinner next Tuesday.

"Tuesday?" She repeated when her husband told her what his father said. "That's like four days from now."

"It is." Sasuke replied, hesitantly. "If you're busy in the hospital, I could say no."

Sakura blanched. "God, Sasuke, I don't know if I'll be able to get time off, I just started, for god's sake!"

Sasuke straightened in bed, inching closer to his wife. He winced, as the movement disturbed his still raging stomach, the Uchiha grasped his wife's hand, squeezing lightly. "Sakura," He started softly. "Don't get all worked up now, it'll be alright."

Sakura took deep breaths, her free hand clenched then she nodded. "Yes, it'll be alright. I'll switch shifts with some of the other residents, and see what I can do."

Sasuke nodded. "And if you can't, I'll call him now,"

"No." The rosette interrupted. "You don't need to call him, I am not a coward."

A sly smirk tilted her husband's lips. "No, you're not."

* * *

Sakura never believed in Murphy's law, she had never been a pessimistic girl, even when life locked every door in her face, then shut all the windows, she had retained a positive attitude, and clung to hope, dancing it all away, because hope was all she had. She never believed that a situation was bound to go wrong, no matter what.

She was given a lesson that Murphy's Law was a fact of life, undisputed and undisputable, on Tuesday morning. Several of her colleagues were open to the idea of switching shifts with her, she got a nice girl named Hana to cover her midnight shift on Monday, and a hyperactive resident to cover her afternoon shift on Tuesday.

She took the free time to shop for the best dress, the rosette had her job cut out for her. No matter what she told Mikoto about remaining true to who she really was, she could not show up to her in-laws' house, for a dinner, dressed in one of her usual dressed, they were short and tight, and made her look sexy, just the way that Sasuke liked them, she was not sure that his father would be all too crazy about them.

Back at home, her dresses laid on Sasuke's, their, bed. She had viewed all of them, then decided that none of them worked, Sasuke would probably pitch a fit when he saw them, he was a bit of a neat freak and detested disorder with a passion.

The boutique owner tried to make some suggestions, wrap dresses that made the rosette look too old, silhouettes that made her downright ancient, one even had the audacity to suggest an evening gown, it was a dinner not a ball.

Bummed, the rosette headed towards the food court, ordered a chicken salad, then dialed her husband's numbers, he answered on the first ring.

"Hey," She greeted, feeling giddy in spite of herself, she always felt excited when it came to Sasuke, "Are you busy?"

"On lunch break." He replied, curtly. "Where are you?"

Sakura could not help but sigh dejectedly, "At the mall, where else? I don't know what to wear Sasuke." She protested, almost to the point where she was whining. "I have no idea what to get."

There was a pause then she heard him exhale a dejected sigh of his own, she could just picture him rubbing the bridge of his nose, right now. "Sakura," He started, saying her name with authority, "Just get whatever you usually get."

She scoffed, raising a fork of salad to her lips, she chewed thoroughly, knowing that she was irritating him in the process, then finally said, "Sasuke, you might like the short, tight dresses that I wear, but I'm not sure that your father would be too pleased to see me in a little black dress."

"Sakura, I thought we already established that you're not going to be someone that you're not for my parents' sake, if accepts you then that's fine, if he doesn't then that's fine also."

The rosette pushed the salad away, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. "I know that, I just-" She sighed, "Whatever, forget it, I'll let you get back to your work."

Sakura walked around the mall one more time, hoping that she would find the dress that she needed. She was just about to give up when her eyes caught a black dress on display. She smiled, it was young, it was sexy, respectful enough and she didn't need to try it on to know that it was a perfect fit. The rosette smiled, she had just the pair of heels for it.

It all went downhill from there. She went back to their apartment, fully intending to soak into a rose scented bath, her pager went off then, an emergency call. The rosette groaned, her plans flying past her eyes and out of the window.

Still she clung to hope, changed out of her blouse and trousers into sweats and hightailed to the hospital. That was when she finally understood that truly, everything that could go wrong will go wrong.

There was a mass trauma, a construction site on the main road collapsed, several cars were caught in the mayhem, and even passer-bys. An emergency team was sent to the field, Sakura was assigned to the ER room. The rosette changed into light blue scrubs, then texted her husband.

_Caught in the hospital, ER._

The message was brief, vague, but he would know what she meant. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too pissed off with her.

Sasuke toyed with the idea, just as he toyed with his phone, of not going to his parents'. He just received his wife's text, when he heard about the accident on the main road, he just knew that there was no way that she could get away, they would need every man and woman to take care of the mess, there at least a few dozens in need of urgent medical assistance.

He decided to go anyway, he would simply tell his parents why Sakura was not be able to join them, and then he'd come back early and wait for his wife.

"She did not even bother to come." His father commented, just before he took a spoon foul of spinach soup into his mouth.

Sasuke dropped his spoon then stared at his father. "My wife," He did not like the way that his father referred to her as she, as if she were some nameless woman that was not in fact his son's wife. "Is caught in the hospital, a construction site collapsed on the main road just three hours ago, and the hospital is swarmed."

"And am I supposed to believe," Fugaku started, pausing to take a sip of water, "That she is some sort of miracle worker, and her presence is an absolute necessity so the poor souls of our city would not suffer?" He asked mockingly.

Mikoto decided to intervene. She was looking particularly lovely in a blue dress that complemented her fit form. "Fugaku," She started, her tone placating, "I heard that there were many injuries, and they would need all the personnel at hand to care for them. I'm sure that Sakura," She emphasized the rosette's name and in that moment, Sasuke knew that his mother was fully on their side, "Would have come if she could, there's always another chance."

Fugaku grunted but said nothing more, Mikoto decided to pick up conversation. "How is Sakura, by the way? Is she adjusting in the hospital?"

"She is." Sasuke replied. "She says that Dr. Senju is taking the time to teach her, she was able to assist on a particularly tricky operation just yesterday."

"Dr. Senju?" Mikoto echoed, "Would that be Dr. Tsunade Senju, Sasuke?"

Sasuke felt pride bubble in his chest, Dr. Tsunade was Sakura's mentor, as well as the best cardio-thoracic surgeon in the country. "Yes, Sakura landed an apprenticeship with her when she was a senior in college, premed."

Out of the corner of his eye he studied his father's reaction. Fugaku's interest was obviously pricked, but he was too pride to admit it, so, he remained focusing on devouring what remained of the spinach soup that he was fond of, and that Sasuke never liked.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he inconspicuously glanced at it, phones at the dinner table were still taboo, Sakura had sent a text.

_They let me off till morning, heading home._

He could almost see her tired, now, as she dragged herself home, dressed in bloody scrubs and her wild, insanely long, hair gathered in a messy bun. He decided that he would not let her drag herself home. He set his spoon down then wiped his mouth clean.

"Dinner was great, mom." He said, "I'm sorry, but I have to go, I need to drive Sakura home."

Mikoto opened her mouth to reply, her eyes understanding, when Fugaku beat her to it. "She's slave driving you now? And you're acting as her chauffeur?"

Sasuke felt anger dance through him, until it threatened to burst, he breathed in, hanging on to what little control he had left. "Dad," He started. "Sakura is my wife, I'm going to go and drive her home," He stressed that word, wanting him to know that he considered Sakura to part of his home, part of him, "Because I don't want her to go home alone, tired and alone, I will tell you this, you had better stop this, because by pushing Sakura away, you're pushing me away."

With that he departed, not bothering to excuse himself. He was pissed, and he would be damned if he was forced to sit there and listen to any more bullshit from his father.

"Careful, Fugaku." Mikoto chided. "You lost one son, you don't want to lose the other."


	3. Trouble in Paradise

To make up for the long wait that you had between the first chapter and the second, I followed up with a pretty quick update, only for you, lovely reviewers, thanks a lot for the great things that you had to say, I really appreciate it.

I have some high hopes for this story, especially since you all encouraged me to continue it, so, here you go, I hope you like what I'm doing with it

Chapter three

* * *

Whenever Sasuke woke up from sleep, he knew that having his wife in the penthouse, that was never a home before but a mere construction in which he ate, showered and slept, was a good thing.

Every morning, he would find her curled up against his front, even though the bed was big enough to take at least four people and they would still be comfortable, Her reddish blond locks would contrast against the brown pillows she had insisted on putting there, and her night dress, usually a skimpy little scrap of fabric always rode high on her legs, giving him his fare share of creamy, silky-soft skin.

He slept better now, woke up feeling fitter than ever, and ready to take on the world, whenever she had to spend the night at the hospital, which was more often than he liked, he would wake up groggy, grumpy and too exhausted to even walk the short distance to his bathroom. In a way, it was both a good and a bad thing, because now that he had her by his side, twenty four hours a day, or at least as much as both their busy schedules allowed, he knew that, like a drug, her absence would make him miserable, not that he ever planned to separate from her, but there would be times, like her frequent graveyard shifts, and his business trips, where he would part from her, and like a child, not wanting to let go of his mother's skirt, Sasuke hated that.

Like this time.

* * *

Sakura flopped down on her bed, having just finished a shower after a particularly tricky shift at the hospital. She as quickly being handed more and more responsibilities, even though she was just a first year resident, and technically still a rookie, she still was Dr. Tsunade's chosen apprentice, and that meant that she couldn't just sit around, reading files or giving flu shots, she was expected to get her hands dirty and learn as much as she can. As a first year resident, Sakura was being handed procedures that even a fifth year resident would shy away from.

The rosette knew that that wasn't just blind trust on her mentor's part, she was taking the aggressive approach, she had nurtured, fed Sakura everything she needed to know to get a jump start on things, and now, she was taking a step back, watching her take the first leap off of that proverbial tree.

Of course, that meant more and more work for the rosette, she was drowned in shifts, assisting in OR rooms that she had no business entering as a rookie, and hunching over textbooks and medical journals that weighed more than her.

She was just about to close her eyes, and fall sleep, when her phone vibrated on the nightstand, she huffed, half-thinking to just ignore it, but then called herself lazy, and reached for the device.

She was glad that she hadn't ignored it, her husband had sent a message. It was short, concise and no beating around the bush. Just like Sasuke.

_Skype, now._

The rosette smiled. Sasuke refused, downright refused, to talk to her without seeing her when he was away. Even when she was still his dirty little secret -he didn't like it when she referred to herself as such- , he never talked to her on the phone, he either texted or video chatted with her.

Despite the fact that she was beat, her feet hurt like hell, she still hopped off of the bed. Her laptop was laying around on the loveseat by the bookcase.

She smiled the second that her husband's face appeared on the computer screen. "Hey." She breathed out. "How's Suna?"

"Hot." He replied, annoyance dripping out of his voice. She could tell, he was shirtless. Sakura giggled, even as he narrowed his eyes at her, Sasuke hated, despised, the heat. He couldn't stand it. She was forever arguing with him over the Antarctica that he liked to create in their bedroom. The second April rolls by, he'd have the AC on twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and on full blast.

"Bear with it." She chided. "I told you not to go, anyway. But you wouldn't listen, and you left me here all alone." Her hand went up to play with a reddish blonde lock, and her lips puckered in a pout.

"You know that I had to," He shot back, "It's a big client, and the trial is in Suna."

"How did that go, by the way?"

"Good." He replied. "The opening statement went good, I could tell that Karin had them, I'll cross-examine most of the witnesses tomorrow, and then I'll close on Wednesday, which wi-" He paused, then chuckled. 'I'm boring you out with this, aren't I?"

The rosette shook her head, and stopped twirling her hair. He knew her well, whenever she began to twirl her lengthy hair, he knew that she was in a whole different world. She smiled in apology. "It was just a long day."

"Tell me." He ordered. Sakura loved that about him. Not many knew this about him, but Sasuke was an amazing listener, he didn't talk much, but that gave him the opportunity to actually hear what other people were telling him. Whenever a person went to him with a problem, he'd listen, analyze, then come up with an adequate solution all in the span of minutes because he was that good.

"It's just…I don't know." She shook her head. "I signed up for this the second I decided to join premed, and then when I accepted Dr. Senju's offer for apprenticeship, and now, I don't have any reason to complain. I'm just tired, that's all." She concluded with a smile so he wouldn't worry.

"And now, you feel like you bit more than you can chew?" He clarified, his tone neutral and it did not betray any thoughts on what he had just told him.

"Don't get me wrong." She quickly countered. "I don't regret it. I know that I'm not making much sense, but, sometimes, I wonder if one day, I'll wake up and it'll be too much for me."

Sasuke stayed silent for a few heartbeats then smirked. "I wonder what the world would say when they found out that the Uchiha Sakura, medical extraordinaire, and dancer, is insecure and self-conscious."

The rosette rolled her eyes. "First of all, I'm not yet a medical extraordinaire, just trying to be, and second of all, I tell you of my worries and, yes, insecurities, and you take the time to make fun!" She exclaimed. "Shameful of you, Uchiha, very shameful."

"I'm not kidding, Sakura." He sighed. "Sometimes, I find it amazing how everyone but you, can see what you're made of. Sakura, you've said it yourself, you said that Dr. Senju was it, that she was the deal when it came to cardio, and, doesn't the fact that she chose you to be her apprentice tell you something about yourself? She could have had anyone, but she chose you."

"To teach me." She countered, still clinging to her self-consciousness and insecurity.

"Sakura," He started in that tone that she knew all too well, it was a tone that he used with his blond loud-mouthed best friend all the time, and while that tone could be interpreted in many ways depending on the situation, Sakura knew that in this case he meant, don't be stupid and listen to what I tell you because you know I'm right. It was a very expressive tone. "I take interns at the firm all the time, to teach them, that doesn't mean that they start out idiots."

A smile forced its way onto Sakura's face, Sasuke, while known to be blunt, crude and sometimes downright cruel, knew exactly what to say and how to say it, to convince you that he was in fact right, and that you are wrong and that there was no point in arguing with him. That was why he was such a good lawyer, or maybe, it was because he was a lawyer that he was good at convincing people? She didn't know.

"My point is, Dr. Tsunade saw something in you, something that wasn't in all the other applicants for the apprenticeship with her, and she grabbed at that, knowing that she could make something great out of you. And you will be, you just have to bear with it."

"I know, I know." She finally conceded. "I guess I'm just feeling sort of melodramatic, because of what happened with Mika earlier."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Mika?"

"Oh," She breathed out, "I guess I should have told you about her before, you'd get where I'm coming from then. Mika is a colleague of mine, we're both first years. Well, let's just say that she got a little too cozy with a third year."

Sasuke, ever the bright man, understood right away. "So, she's knocked up." It wasn't a question, it was a conclusion. "Okay, what about that?"

Sakura snorted, running her hand through her tresses. In spite of her, he mouth opened in a jaw-breaking yawn. "What about that?" She echoed, "You mean other than the fact that her life is now completely, utterly and irrevocably destroyed?"

She could tell that she shocked him, as much as Sasuke could exhibit shock anyway. It was all the in the eyebrows with him. "Destroyed? I thought you said that she was pregnant not diagnosed with cancer."

"Well, actually cancer would be considered the better option, at least, it's curable, a child that's for life."

"Sakura, did I just hear you compare a baby to cancer? Really? Are you even listening to yourself?"

Sakura suddenly realized how she made it sound. "Come on, Sasuke, you know what I mean."

"Do I?"

The rosette rolled her eyes, she was just not up to anymore drama. "Sasuke, doctors don't get pregnant, not at this stage, we've got to prioritize, frankly, I don't think that any doctor would welcome the idea of starting a family, at least not female doctors."

"Is that so?"

Oh, Sakura recognized that expression, it meant that he found what she was telling him to be groundless, and utter bullshit, and that there was no way that he could agree with her on it. "Well, Sakura, I'm not a doctor, I am married to a doctor." He stated, "A female one," He added in sarcasm, "And I don't think that I've been informed of this…regulation when I married her, it certainly wasn't in the vows."

The rosette recoiled, this was new. It was undiscovered territory that they'd never trespassed on before. They had never talked babies before, they said that they loved each other, that they planned to spend the rest of their respective lives with each other, but babies? They never went there, Sasuke was his own man, she could never picture him as a family's man, and she had her own stuff to get together, she thought that they stood on the same ground when it came to children.

"Sasuke, come on. I'm not ready for children and neither are you, you know that."

"No, Sakura, I don't know. We never talked about this, it seems to me that you thought about it, and then decided all on your own." He shook his head. "You didn't say that you aren't ready, you said that no doctor could even think about having children, you said that cancer was better, I don't get a say?"

"It's not like that, Sasuke." She countered. "So, if you decide to have children, I'm just supposed to say yes, as you wish, and get knocked up as soon as possible? Do you think we should start as soon as you're home?" She huffed. "Sasuke, maybe you've forgotten that while you get to go to work and do your stuff, I'll be the one carrying those extra forty pounds or so, for nine freaking months?"

"I can't believe you just pulled that on me."

"Pulled what? It's the truth. So, unless you can somehow figure out a way to be a seahorse and carry your own babies, then, you can forget about having any. And that's all I have to say."

"Is it? Well, good night, then."

With that, he cut the video call.

Sakura sat back on the loveseat, feeling completely stupid, and wondering if she had gone too far. She shook her head. She wasn't about to be walked all over, she did not survive all this time to surrender her thoughts, her beliefs, so easily to anyone, even if said anyone was actually her husband. Sasuke had no right to impose what he wanted on her, if he wanted children, he should have married a woman that was ready to have them.

* * *

Sasuke returned to Konoha on Friday morning, he hadn't spoken to or texted his wife in days, he was still pissed with her, and since she had done the same, not called or texted, he assumed that she was still pissed with him.

In a way, he could see where she was coming from, she was young, and ambitious and she still had tons of things that she wanted to do, and he could admit that a baby would saddle her at the moment, especially since, like she pointed out, she would be the one actually carrying the baby for nine long months.

Still, he couldn't bring himself to shake off the way she vehemently refused to have any children, he understood the irony of the situation, he was the guy, he was the one that was supposed to say that he wasn't ready for kids, she was the girl, she was the one that was supposed to scream and yell about how she wanted babies.

Deep down, he knew what the real issue was, it wasn't that he wanted a child, he did, but now was certainly not a good time, not when her career had just began, he wasn't so selfish to demand that of her, and things with his father had yet to be patched. She was putting medicine above him, above them, and he didn't like that, he liked to believe that he was on the top of her list of priorities, just as she was the top of his. She said that doctors needed to prioritize; did that mean that she placed medicine above him? She didn't say it outright, but he was smart enough to figure it out on his own.

It was night when he finally left the office, he told himself that there were things that needed his attention, urgent matters, important cases that he couldn't push back, but he knew, that he was being a coward, and he just didn't want to go home yet. He didn't want to talk to Sakura, he didn't want to talk about their fight, the reasons behind it, or the conclusions that they both got from it.

At ten pm sharp though, enough was enough. He picked himself off, and headed home, where he was supposed to be.

Sakura was not there, he was not surprised, it wasn't rare that she covered the graveyard shift at the hospital. She didn't leave a note, he wasn't surprised at that either, she had no idea that he was coming after all.

Sasuke went straight to the shower, stripped out of his suit, then stood under the shower, willing the hot water to wash away every tension that he had in him.

His pillow never felt softer, and the sheets never felt more comfortable, he was out the second his body hit the mattress. He didn't wake up until much later.

Something woke him up, noise. He glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand, the clock said, in neon green, that it was six thirty. He glanced about the room and figured out what woke him up. Sakura was pulling a shirt over her head, her tennis shoes were kicked off by the door and her jeans were also lying by the door, a tee shirt hang off of the back of the loveseat.

He sat up in bed, no longer drowsy and studied her, she hadn't noticed him yet, she was obviously exhausted.

"Sakura," He called out, extending the courtesy of announcing his presence even though he knew that she would notice him at any moment now.

She froze, her shirt half-covering her torso, and her legs clad in nothing but a pair of black panties, she turned mechanically, then slowly pushed the shirt all the way down, to cover the tops of her thighs.

"Sasuke," She acknowledged, her voice hard, and forced. "When did you get back?"

He considered lying to her, telling her that he'd just come back, but thought against it, lying was never good, lies had a knack for backfiring, then exploding in your face. "Yesterday morning." He admitted, pulling the sheets away from his lower half, put his feet on the floor, and balanced his upper body on his hands, studying the lush carpet.

"Yesterday morning." She echoed. He felt the bed dip with added weight. "So you've been back in the city for a whole day, and I, your wife, only now find out."

His hackles rose at the challenge in her voice, and his irritation responded to hers. "You could have called." He countered, turning slightly to study her back.

She stayed silent for what felt like hours when it was only minutes, and he patiently sat there, staring at the floor and willing her to speak. Finally she sighed, then crawled backwards. "I'm going to sleep." She announced, then slipped under the covers.

She gave him her back, putting an end to their conversation/argument. Sasuke stood, not wanting to stay like that, like an idiot waiting for her to acknowledge him, and headed out.

The fridge was full as always, he wondered when she found the time to cook all that food, there was leftover pasta, some sort of vegetable gratin, fruits of all shapes, colors, and sizes, half a sandwich wrapped in foil paper that she no doubt planned to finish later.

He closed the fridge, he didn't feel that hungry and his appetite had long since gone. He opted for a glass of water instead.

* * *

Sakura did not stir until well after midday. He could tell that she expected him to be gone, because when she stepped into the living room still dressed in the oversized shirt, and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she froze, when those emerald orbs landed on him.

She did not say a word and padded towards the kitchen, her steps slow and sluggish, to grab something to eat.

Placing a bowl of cereal on the counter top, she studied her husband's back. He didn't glance her way, his eyes remained focused on the TV screen in front of him. Munching through her cereal, she thought back to their argument. She knew that there were some things that he had every reason to be mad about, she had said things that she shouldn't have said, things that could be taken the wrong way, that were taken the wrong way; but still, he had no right to make such drastic demands to her, she was still twenty four, barely out of college, and she had all the time in the world to think about babies, and if they were going to have children, she'd have to want them too.

She never liked it when she and Sasuke fought, it made her feel sick, and uncomfortable, and she always hated it when she couldn't talk to her husband about what was bothering her, in this instant, he was the one that was bothering her, or at least the conversation they had.

She decided to be the bigger person. "Did you have anything to eat?" She asked, her voice sounded, to her own ears, forced and icy, she hoped, however, that it would pass as an attempt at civility.

He grunted at her. His shoulder lifted in a brusque and dismissing gesture. He didn't show any other outward reaction.

Sakura saw destruction flash between her eyes, she was a doctor, a surgeon, and she knew a large number of things that could be done with a scalpel, none of those things were particularly pleasant, to Sasuke, at any rate.

Fine, if that was the way that he wanted to be, then that was fine.

She slammed the bowl into the sink, not caring to check if it broke or not, and headed towards their shared room. The rosette slipped into the shower, then donned a pair of pale pink jeans, a tank top, and threw a dark blue blazer over them, and black heels.

She gathered her hair into a ponytail, applied a minimum amount of makeup, then reached for her clutch and keys.

Sasuke glanced at her over his shoulder just as she was heading out. "Where to?" He called out, his voice just as clipped and forced as hers had been when she'd asked him if he'd eaten.

She gave him as good as she got. She stared at him for a few heartbeats, over her shoulder as well, then shrugged, and waved.

* * *

Ino was at her family's flower shop. The blond sat behind the counter, the side of her head cupped in one hand, and the other fumbling with a notebook in front of her, her baby blue eyes lit up when she spotted the rosette. "Sakura," She called out.

The rosette smiled as she received Ino's hug. "I'm not distracting you, am I?" She asked when she withdrew.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, as you can see, I can't really pay much attention to you, see, I have dozens of clients waiting for my precious undivided attention."

Sakura glanced around the empty shop, then burst out laughing. The shop was abandoned.

"No one buys flowers anymore." Ino complained, reclaiming her position behind the counter, after offering the rosette a chair to sit on. "So, what brings you here? These days, you've been so scarce, I have to wonder when you do show up." She added when Sakura shot her a questioning look.

"I have been rather busy, haven't I?" Sakura rubbed her hand against the back of her head, a nervous habit that she picked up from Naruto, her husband's best friend. "It's just the hospital, really giving me a run for my money."

"I told you, you were better off becoming a stripper, more money, less work." The blonde joked. "How's that going, anyway? Doing any interesting stuff?"

Ino herself was a nurse, she graduated last year, worked at the hospital for six weeks, then decided that nursing people was not the best thing for her, after six months of on-again-off-again jobs, she decided that she was better off arranging flowers at her family's shop.

"Yeah, yeah, very interesting." Sakura replied. "Tsunade is giving me more and more responsibility. I'm content."

Ino froze then straightened, she studied the rosette with narrowed eyes. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Wrong? What makes you think anything's wrong?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, then flipped her shiny golden locks. "Forehead," She started, using the rosette's old childhood nickname, Sakura was still quite sensitive about that, she did have a particularly large forehead when she was little, but she had grown out of it. She glared at her best friend for good measure. "I've known you, since what? Kindergarten? I know that when you say that you are content, or other fancy words like that, you mean that you're miserable, so what's wrong?"

Sakura sighed, and her shoulders slumped, there was no keeping anything from the all-knowing Ino, she could read her like an open book, so, she decided to just surrender the truth. "Sasuke and I had an argument."

Ino pursed her lips, seemingly thinking, then said. "You mean like an argument argument, or you-took-all-the-hot-water argument?"

"No." sakura replied. "Like an argument, argument." Feeling dejected, she told all that happened to the blonde. "And now, he's really mad at me, and I'm really mad at him."

Ino sighed, then stayed silent for a bit, Sakura knew that she was mulling it all over. The rosette nearly smiled, Ino was always like that, when Sakura talked to her about her problems, she'd go quiet, think really hard, then provide a suitable solution.

"Don't get this the wrong way, Sakura. But I kind of get where Sasuke's coming from."

Sakura's eyes went wide. "You're taking Sasuke's side?" She asked in surprise, Ino was her best friend, she was supposed to be on her side no matter what, she was supposed to tell the rosette that she was right, and Sasuke was wrong.

"I said don't get me wrong." Ino was quick to add. "Yeesh, forehead, always so jumpy. What I meant to say is that…" She closed her mouth, and then shook her head. "Sakura, you know that Sasuke is a pretty intelligent man, yeah?"

Sakura nodded, of course, she could concede that, her husband was one of the best lawyers in the country, if not the best, period, he had graduated at the top of his class from one of the most prestigious law schools in the country. And his knowledge did not stop just at that, he liked to read, and he liked to be informed of what went on around him, there were times where she found that he was quite the conversationalist when it came down to complex subjects that only people who were advanced in the medical field could actually discuss.

"Do you really think that Sasuke wouldn't know, wouldn't understand, that there is no way that you could even think about having any kids at the moment? Hell, I'm not sure he wants them at the moment, what with things with his parents still a little shaky."

"But that's exactly what I said." Sakura countered, her cheeks red with anger and irritation. "I said that I'm not ready, and that neither was he, and he still went all pissed on me."

"No, forehead." Ino said. "That's not what you said. "Sakura, babe, you compared, no, you said that having babies was worse than cancer, come on, girl."

"He should have understood." Sakura persisted. "He should have understood what I meant, it wasn't like I meant that babies were actually worse than cancer."

"That's the thing with you, billboard brow." Another nickname that only Ino could use and come out unscathed. "Sakura, you have this thing with you, you blurt out the first thing that passes through your head, and you assume that somehow, everyone will understand exactly what you were thinking, and what you meant, when you said it."

Sakura scowled. She was a child like that, she did not like to be criticized, even at the hands, or the mouth, of her own, best friend. "So, what of it?"

"Seriously, Sakura." Ino chided. "It's easy to guess where Sasuke is coming from. You basically told him that you were choosing to nurture your career, you told him that you place medicine above all else, you told him that a baby would be an obstacle that you didn't want in your professional life." Ino sighed. "At the moment or not, whether you said that you weren't ready or not, Sakura, you told your husband that you were choosing medicine over your marriage, over him."

Sakura inhaled sharply, and did not exhale. She mulled the words that Ino had said in her head, then went back and reviewed all the words that she'd said to Sasuke almost a week ago.

_You mean other than the fact that her life is no completely, utterly and irrevocably destroyed?_

She'd generalized, she'd said life, when she actually meant career. She had placed her life as a woman, as a wife, and one aspect of her life, which was her profession, on the same level, and then said that a baby would destroy her life.

_You know what I mean, Sasuke._

_Do I?_

He had told her, hadn't, he? He did tell her that he didn't get where she was coming from, but she persisted, and went on.

_Then you can forget about having any._

She really did mess up, didn't she? Sakura shook her head, then stood. "Thanks, Ino. You're really great to talk to, I'll get going now."

Ino held her arm halting her, just as she was leaving. "You'll think about what I said, okay? Don't give the man a hard time, he's been so good to you, _for _you."

The rosette nodded then slowly left the flower shop, into the busy streets of the city. Sasuke was not home by the time she went back to their apartment, penthouse, it was a little shy of five o'clock, Sakura changed out of her jeans and boyfriend jacket, into a comfortable pair of shorts and a T-shirt, then started on dinner.

She was just about to start setting the table for two, when she heard the door open. She stood, wiping her hands on her dark blue apron, and chewing her bottom lip nervously. Sasuke had obviously smelled food because he headed first towards the kitchen, his brief case still in hand, the other, free hand loosening his wine red tie. Only he would work on a Saturday, and her, except, that this Saturday was her day off.

"Hi." She greeted, giving him her back because she didn't want him to see how nervous she was. The rosette reached for the cupboards, intent on retrieving two glasses. As usual, she came out half an inch too short, Sasuke often teased her that he would get her a stool, right before reaching for the cupboards himself.

She was just about to give up, when she felt the familiar heat of his body behind her, she guessed that his chest was plastered to her back. His strong arm reached past her, past her head, into the cupboard, and he retrieved the two glasses that she was aiming for.

Glasses in hand, he stepped back, then walked towards the table. Sakura studied him, then sighed. "I'm sorry." She mumbled.

Sasuke raised his head, and looked at her. She half-expected him to smirk at her then say something obnoxious like, I knew you'd cave first. Instead, he studied her for bit, then nodded. "I'm sorry, too."

The rosette bit her lip, and mulled over what she should say next. "What are you sorry for?"

Her husband pulled up a chair, and sat, loosening the tie around his neck, and dropping the briefcase beside him on the floor. "It was…an important conversation, one that should have been discussed in a more appropriate setting and with a more prepared state of mind, one that we definitely shouldn't have had on Skype."

She fought to hold back a smile but failed miserably. "True." She agreed. "Sasuke, did you feel like I was putting you second? Below my career, I mean?"

He looked surprised, which told her that she, or rather Ino, had pegged it. "Did you?" She insisted.

Sasuke sighed. "I kind of…did. I don't know, I guess I was just feeling stressed, and, from a logical point of view I get where you were coming from, but at the same time, some of things you said, they all made me feel insecure, and I guess that's why I flipped to offensive."

"I'm sorry." She repeated, then walked towards him, she sat on the chair beside his, and took his hand in hers. "I…I don't feel like that, I mean, what you are to me, you can't compare that to medicine or anything else." She sighed, then decided to take Ino's advice into consideration, she needed to tell him exactly what she thought. "Sasuke, what I mean to say is, I can't ace my personal life and then let my professional life go into shambles, and vice versa, I'm not just your wife, and I'm not just a doctor, it's a package, the whole of it, and, in order for my life as a whole to succeed, every aspect of it has got to succeed as well."

Sasuke nodded, and squeezed the hand wrapped around his. "I get that. Thanks for explaining."

Sakura beamed at him, then stretched to kiss his cheek, then his lips. "I'm glad that we got that cleared up." She kissed his cheek again. "Sasuke, I'd love to have kids with you, just-"

"Not now." He finished for her. "I get it, I overreacted."

"And I should have chosen my words better." She smiled. "Let's have some dinner."

As they munched their food, Sakura could not help but feel, that they'd dodged a bullet, only to stand in the way of a torpedo, and there was no escaping it.

* * *

So, I'm pretty happy with how this came out, especially since I had like two minutes a day to type it, as you can see, it's pretty much just a filler, the real stuff won't be coming up for a while.

Please review and tell me what you think, faves are appreciated it, but to know that someone actually took the time to put what they felt about your work into actual words, that's diffrent, and amazing, so thank you, again, for the loyal readers that I've had with me since I started posting a year ago, since prince charming.

One more thing, recently, Prince Charming has hit one hundred reviews, considering that I'm a fairly new author here, it's really a big thing for me, so this chapter is dedicated to the one hundredth reviewer, LadyJaeJung, thanks a lot :)

Much love :)


	4. A trip down memory lane

So, I struggled with this chapter, a lot. I didn't want it to be another filler, or another silly day in Sasuke's and Sakura's married life, instead, I wanted to shed some light on my character's backgrounds, starting with Sakura, who, I think, some of you found to be a stuck up bitch, from the last time, so this is an interlude to Sakura.

I hope you like it!

Warning: lots of inner thoughts, very little dialogue

* * *

Sakura didn't have any family to speak of. Her mother had left her, died when the rosette was barely fifteen, and her father, well, he wasn't family, not since he'd walked out on both of them, all those years ago, leaving Haruno Mebuki, a struggling doctor to take care of nine year old Sakura who needed food, shelter and education.

When she was fifteen, alone and technically an orphan, she had done everything in her power to not land herself in an orphanage, or worse, with a foster family. She had just lost her mother, the only family she had, and she refused to be with parents that were not her own.

Sakura had mopped floors, wiped windows, done things that no fifteen year old should ever dream of doing, and only sheer luck had kept her out of strip clubs and away from street corners.

There were times when she wanted to just give up, to just choose a curb, sit on it, then slowly, but surly, fade away, there were times when she thought that death was surly better than what she had to go through, there were times when she nearly did chose death over her miserable life.

Chiyo, a nice old lady who owned a great diner back in Suna, was one of her mother's patients and a friend, she took the rosette in, hired her as a waitress and a part time cook, but that wasn't enough, in time, she realized that to reach the life that she wanted for herself, flipping pancakes and serving coffee was not going to cut it. She took up dancing, divided her time as well as she could between studying her ass off, hanging on to her scholarship for dear life, and dancing her way through her education.

And then she met Sasuke, and her life hadn't been the same ever since. All changed for her, since that day they first danced together. They kissed for the first time that day, Sakura was not the type to offer anything other than kisses. And then he sought her out after that, and then again, and again, before they knew it, they were dating.

The little gifts started soon after that, lovely bracelets, classy earrings, Sakura didn't mind those, he was just a man, and men could only show their affection by buying jewelry, she accepted his offerings with smiles and kisses, knowing that he'd be offended if she didn't.

Sakura remembered the day she nearly broke it off with him. Sakura was struggling a bit with money, it was her fourth year at medical school, and her textbooks were as expensive as ever, she was behind on rent, on her bills, and pretty much everything else, there was a point that Sakura thought that she would have to starve herself so she wouldn't be evicted from her tiny one bedroom apartment.

And then, it all went away, just like that. She was astonished, surprised, stupefied and every other word in the dictionary that echoed the sentiment, her landlord said that she didn't have to worry about anything when she went to plead with him for some more time, and that all was taken care of. She hadn't understood at the time, until he showed her the check with Sasuke's name on it.

The rosette was furious, and all she wanted to do was march into Sasuke's office and destroy something, break something, preferably his nose. Instead, she waited until he came by her apartment, late in the evening, still in his pricy suit.

Why? She had asked him, sitting on her small brown couch, in nothing but sweats and T-shirt. She felt cheap, like a whore, being compensated for her services, and she wasn't even sleeping with him at that time. She yelled, he yelled, and then she yelled some more, and in the end, he left the apartment, and she slammed the door behind his back. He came by the next morning, his eyes bloodshot, like he hadn't slept at all, and dark smudges marred the skin under his lower eyelids, she was much in the same state, he said that he didn't want to see her suffer, and that she wasn't cheap to him. You're mine. Those were his very words, and while Sakura, feminist, independent, Sakura would have felt more than insulted at those derogatory, and demeaning words, at that time, she felt cherished, safe, and loved.

"Sakura?"

The rosette was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of a fellow resident. Her colleague was short, dark haired, and extremely polite, Sakura smiled at her.

"Yes? Sorry, I spaced out." She felt the need to explain because the woman was looking at her with concern in her lovely brown eyes.

"You have a patient. Third floor, room 341."

Sakura held the smile on her face until she was on her way, then she scowled, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her blue scrubs. Her stethoscope hang around her neck, her lab coat was missing. Just because she was the apprentice of a widely known cardio thoracic surgeon did not mean that she was one herself, and she, as a first year resident, was required to do mundane tasks, like do an examination on a patient on the third floor, the post op floor, where they kept the patients that needed observation after an operation.

Sakura did not take notice of who exactly reclined in the bed, until she picked up the chart, hanging at the foot of the metallic bed. Her eyes went wide then. "Subaku Gaara?" She spoke out loud, then her eyes flew towards the bed, and she spotted the familiar red head, her patient who happened to be sleeping before she spoke his name, was no longer sleeping.

He glanced at her for a few heartbeats, then his eyes went wide. "Sakura?" He tried to sit up, and the medic in Sakura was poked to life. The rosette flew to his side, and applied gentle pressure on his shoulders.

"Easy there," She instructed, "It says here that you had an appendectomy two days ago, you could tear your stitches." She pulled back, and looked at him. The same unruly red hair, the green eyes that were so much like her own, she smiled. "I can't believe it."

The redhead mimicked her smile. "Sakura Haruno, finally a doctor." He laughed, the winced when that agitated his wound. "Never thought I'd see the day, or you again. You disappeared!"

Sakura ignored his exclamation. "Well, I'll have you know, it's Sakura Uchiha now, for starters, and lie back," She ordered when he tried to sit up again. "I'll finish your examination. Then we'll talk."

"You don't need to get back out there?" The redhead titled his chin in the way of the door after she scribbled something on the chart and took a seat on the foot of his bed.

"It's my break." She explained. "So, what are you doing here? They don't have internal surgeons in Suna?"

He shook his head. "I was here on a job. And this happened." He gestured at himself for emphasis. "Forget me, what happened to you? And what's this talk I hear about Uchiha Sakura?"

Sakura sighed, then adjusted her seat on his bed. "Well, when I came here for college six years ago, I met a guy. And now, we're married. How's Chiyo?"

Chiyo, the woman who took her in, was actually Gaara's grandmother, the two had grown up together, at least, they lived together for three years after her mom died.

Gaara would not be deterred. "Fine. You're married?"

"Yup." Sakura answered cheerfully, for his benefit. Gaara was always overprotective, and a bit overbearing with it, and if he knew that her and Sasuke's relationship had lasted a little over a couple of months, he would flip, cause a scene, then demand that he meet Sasuke, and she wasn't about to let that happen. "For two years now." She raised her left hand to show him the white gold ring on her finger.

"Who is he? What does he do?" Gaara was getting that look in his eyes, the one that said that he sensed that something was not right, and that he would stop at nothing to find out what it was, Sakura rolled her eyes.

"His name is Sasuke Uchiha. And he's a lawyer."

The expression on the redhead's face teetered between astonishment and pure amusement, in spite of her protests, he sat up, seemingly deciding that this conversation was better had when he was not lying down on a hospital bed dressed in a gown that only covered his front, of course, there was nothing to be done about the flimsy gown.

"A lawyer?" He echoed. "As in a guy who follows the law to a letter and punish those who don't?"

"He's not uptight!" Sakura found herself exclaiming before she thought better of it. "And he's a defense attorney, not of the kind that throws people in jail. A very smart lawyer, too."

He nodded, seemingly agreeing with her, when he was just mocking her. "Of course, of course." He narrowed his eyes at her. "And if he is so great and charming, why did you never tell Chiyo about him, or even me?"

Sakura bit her lip. "We kind of…lost touch, fell out of contact, whatever. I still talk to Chiyo and everything, I mean send her letters and she sends letters back." Old Chiyo was an endearing woman, but she would rather die than open an email or talk to the rosette over the phone, so their only method of contact remained the old fashioned letter. "She knows about Sasuke."

"And she never told me." Gaara concluded. "Because she thinks I'm still…" He waved his hand to dismiss the words that he was going to say, words that would serve no purpose other than putting additional weight on the atmosphere that was turning tenser by the second. "So, this lawyer, Sasuke, is he rich?"

Sakura was shocked to hear the words. She had always been taught that it was not polite to talk about other people's money, but there was more than that to Gaara's question. She knew the guy for the worst half of her life, her mom and Chiyo were close, and so, by association, Gaara and she became friends, they went to high school together, he was her date to their graduation party, and yes, there was more than that to their relationship, but she was not willing to venture there, not when he was spouting off questions that sounded like accusations.

"Excuse me?" The rosette all but leapt off of the hospital bed, the metal frame protested under the sudden movement and her reddish blonde locks bounced out of their messy bun. "What did you just say?"

The redhead rolled his eyes, as if he knew that she would react this way, and did not care. "I said, is he rich? Does he have a lot of money? You said he was a lawyer, and there's that expensive ring on your finger, and you're a doctor, last time I saw you, you were thinking how you're going to affo-"

"Quiet." She hissed, pointing an accusatory finger at her one time friend. "I love my husband." She did not know why she needed to tell him that or justify herself, but she did anyway. "You of all people should know not to be judgmental, it's not like that, and I don't care what you think." The rosette adjusted her stethoscope, adopted the most detached look possible, then inclined her head. "Have a good day, Mr. Subaku."

With that, she turned on her heel, and stalked out of the room. She set at a fast pace towards the cafeteria. As it wasn't lunch time, the cafeteria was all but deserted, save for a few patients that had the liberty to move about the hospital, some with IV bags following them everywhere, some being pushed on wheelchairs. As she sat on the plastic chair, halfheartedly munching at a chocolate chip cookie which tasted completely bland to her, she had to think about the few moments she just had with her long time friend. Why did she react so badly to a seemingly innocent question? No, it wasn't innocent, Sakura knew Gaara like she knew her cardio terminology, which she knew by heart, when he wanted to hurt someone or just irritate them, he would ask questions like that, sometimes they were plain nasty, other times, they were veiled insults, one that you had to think about, to decipher, and by the time you realized that you were actually being insulted, it would be too late for a retort. So, why did she react to the veiled insult, or the veiled accusation, so quickly?

Had it hit a little too close to home? It was ironic, that she was thinking about the very same thing before she was called to Gaara's room, or at least, something that eluded to that very same thing. Hadn't her life been easier since she married Sasuke? That, of course, was what the redhead had meant by his question. Did you marry Sasuke for money, was what he meant to say.

Before, before her marriage that is, she was always worried about the little things, like, would I have enough to buy this textbook? I need this amount for that project, and god, I need to keep my grades up so I don't lose my scholarship, which would have been catastrophic, she even had to keep emergency funds aside, in case she couldn't afford to buy something as menial as toothpaste, or even tampons! She had known dark days, that was for sure.

And then, Sasuke came along, and she didn't have to think about any of those. Her husband was adamant about a few things in their relationship, one was that he insisted that he would provide everything for her, once they were married, he made it sound like a big sacrifice, that he wasn't able to take care of her before they were married.

There was the matter of clothes also, Sakura had never recognized herself as a fashionista, she was just a woman, a woman who liked clothes, and who was good at making cheap clothes look pretty, and expensive, but after she married Sasuke, she didn't even have to look at the price tag anymore! She would see something, like it, and buy it on the spot, no negotiations, no bargains.

So had Sakura become, in her two years of marriage - in which Sasuke paid for everything that she needed, or even just wanted- a dependant, for the lack of a better term, sugar daughter?

* * *

She saw Gaara a couple of times after that, he was released a few days after the day that she did his checkup, and he asked that she meet him in a café, in the name of the years they spent together.

Sakura agreed, and though the redhead had apologized, he still did not take his words back.

"You know why I said it." He commented, sipping on his black coffee. "You said you met him two years ago, and you've been married for what? Eighteen months, more? Just how long did you date? Surely not enough to fall in love with him."

Sakura scowled, then jabbed a fork at her crepe. "You listen here, I don't care what you say. It's not like that between Sasuke and me; and I don't need you to accuse me of being some sort of social climber. You should know me better than that."

"I do know you better than that." Gaara countered. "Which is why I think that this guy, whom I really don't trust, Sasuke or whatever, has weaved this spell around you or something." He twirled his hand in the air." Made you fall in love with the life he could provide for you, and yes, he may have some very redeeming qualities," He added when Sakura threatened to leave. "Maybe it was all just to get you?"

The rosette laughed. It wasn't a joyful sound, though, it wasn't an expression of happiness, or even jolly amusement, it was a sardonic sound, one meant to express the darker, twisted, maimed cousin of amusement, mockery. "Exactly, what did I have that he'd go to such measures, make me fall in love with the life that he could offer me?" She sobered up. "You don't know what you're talking about, anyway. You'd get where I'm coming from if you'd met Sasuke."

"So, introduce me." Gaara argued. "Call him right now, or later, and we could talk. I want to meet this husband of yours."

Sakura did not like the way that he referred to Sasuke, but no, she wasn't about to let the two meet, not ever. Gaara and Sasuke were two fragments of two different versions of her life. Gaara was part of the dark side, the twisted side, where she suffered, where she struggled and knew so much loss, while Sasuke, ironically, was her light, part of the world where she was happy, and satisfied and she felt every other good sentiment, they could not meet, because Sakura, she liked to believe that she stood somewhere on the middle ground between these two versions of her life, and to have her husband and Gaara meet, it would mean that she would tumble towards one side, and one side only.

Sakura was not one to run from her past, or ignore it, she was not one to forget the things that happened to her, the things that made her who she is today, they were part of her, of her constitution, of who she was, and Sakura could not deny that some of the best aspects of her personality were shaped and chiseled there, in Suna where she knew pain, loss.

On the other hand, she wasn't about to let her past overpower her future, or even her present, she needed to put a line, a separation between the two, because those years, the ones she spent alone, and the last few years before her mother finally succumbed to an eternal rest, those were not memories that one would like to think about on a daily basis, and she never wanted Sasuke to breach into that, she never wanted to introduce him to the broken, miserable version of her.

"What are you doing in Konoha, anyway?"

Gaara knew her as well as she knew him, he recognized her question as a pathetic attempt to change the subject, and he also knew not to ignore said pathetic attempt. "Chiyo's been approached to open a branch here, she wanted me to look into it."

"So you'll be here frequently?" Sakura asked immediately, almost too quickly for it to be considered casual, or even polite, but she didn't care.

"No. She just wanted someone she trusted to look into it, she has people to manage stuff like this for her."

Was that relief that Sakura felt?

The rosette tried not to think about how when Sasuke asked her about her day, she answered that it was just another day. Sakura did not consider it lying, she considered it self-preservation, a fabrication in the name of survival, but not lying.

* * *

She met Gaara once more, he waited for her, at the end of her shift, three weeks after the first time they saw each other, he demanded that she come with him to lunch, with the excuse that it was his last day in Konoha.

"We missed you, back in Suna, I mean. Temari, and Kankorou too." He admitted, long after they finished lunch, as they strolled in the park. The city was at its best, almost every flower, every rose, was in bloom, and that painted the park in a collage of a multitude of colors, as mesmerizing as teal, and as ordinary as red, and as captivating as violet, with green, all shades of green. She could never find that in Suna, the greenery in Leaf, and even back on the island, it was what gave her peace of mind, it was what linked her to her mother, who was a nature lover herself. The sandy beaches in Suna, and the scorching heat, it suffocated her, she left years ago, and she didn't want to go back there.

"I know." She replied. "I missed you guys, too. But, Gaara-"

"I know." The redhead interrupted, slowing down until he wasn't walking at all, and he faced the rosette. Sakura stopped as well, and titled her head so she could look him in the eye. "The life you had there, it wasn't the best. And I know, that even though Chiyo took you in, you still suffered. Your mom died." He shrugged, a tell-tale sign that he was not comfortable with the subject at hand, or rather, he was not comfortable with talking about anything that remotely resembled a heart to heart conversation. "And you can't go back there."

True, she couldn't go back to the place where her father abandoned her mother, abandoned her, to the place where her mother had abandoned her, never mind that it was not intentional, it still felt like betrayal like Sakura. The rosette could be happy, she could carry one with the part of her life that actually turned out okay, better than okay, and not worry about the past, as long as the past remained where she left it, in Suna.

"So, I guess, this is good bye." Gaara breathed out. "Or at least, a see you later, until I have to venture into Konoha again, yeah?"

"I guess so." The rosette agreed, then rose on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. The redhead wrapped his arms around her, and squeezed, as if he knew, with absolute certainty, that this was the last that he would ever see of Sakura Haruno, or Sakura Uchiha, his childhood companion.

Sakura continued to walk, aimlessly, around the park, for a couple of hours, after that, thinking. The rosette had been doing a lot of thinking. Sakura was always good at ignoring problems, it helped her in her studies, whenever she was facing a problem of personal basis, she would ignore it, put a lid on it, then stow it away into the dark recesses of her knowledgeable mind. She was also great at compartmentalizing, and putting a separation between her personal life, and her professional life.

Seeing Gaara, talking to him, it brought all that she hid away back into light, all the emotions that she hid away when she moved into Leaf, they all reappeared, not only putting a damper on her mood, but also making her think about her circumstances, as Sakura Uchiha.

Damn that Gaara. At fifteen, they were the best of friends, at sixteen they were a little closer than that, at seventeen they wobbled between being perfect strangers, and awkward friends, and then at eighteen, she had to leave.

Most people, having lived through what she had lived through, would have sought professional help. She could do that, definitely, but she didn't. She didn't need some idiot who was simply too lazy to be an actual doctor, tell her that she suffered from abandonment issues. She knew that.

That's why she left, she wouldn't let the people that she cared about, Chiyo, Gaara, leave her, so she left. And now she had Sasuke, and every step for them, was a big step for her, to accept him as her husband, her lover, her partner, and accept, with outmost conviction, that he would not abandon her, it was one of the most difficult challenges she ever had to conquer.

The Leaf Sakura was not the Sand Sakura, the two were as different as day and night. While the girl she had been in Suna, shied away from friends, and accepted misery as her lot in life, the woman that she became in Konoha was one that made her lot in life, one that was not afraid to marry a man that she had only known for a few months. She was smart, tough and independent.

Which was probably the whole reason for this inner monologue, that last part. Was she independent? Or were the almost accusations that Gaara had hurled her way true?

Sakura did not know, she merely knew that Gaara, while she loved him dearly, had shaken everything that she had thought she established for herself here.

She went back home around an hour before dinner time. The penthouse was empty. The rosette changed out of her jeans and tank top into a more comfortable attire of an oversized tee shirt that belonged to Sasuke.

The kitchen did not call out to her, like it usually did, whenever she was extremely happy, or extremely sad, or in any state of mind, really. It reminded her too much of flipping pancakes, and pouring steaming mugs of coffee. Instead, she picked up the phone, and ordered take-out, a first.

When Sasuke joined her in the living room, she kissed him on the cheek, then told him that she'd microwave the food for him, with the excuse that she was too tired to cook.

"I went by the hospital just an hour ago to pick you up, I thought that your shift ended at seven, but you weren't there."

Sakura did not turn to face him, instead she waited by the microwave, while the food heated. "Yeah, Tsunade let me out early."

"That's good." She heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and surmised that he took a seat at the counter. "Did you do anything, today?"

This was her chance. She could tell him now, talk it out with him, and tell him that she was feeling down, insecure, and a little confused. They could sit, and talk, and then he'd help her work it out, and her insecurities, and uncertainties, they would all go away.

But she didn't. "No, I just stayed home."

* * *

Please, tell me what you think, I really need some feedback on how I'm going with this.

**PLEASE READ: **So, it's been over a year since I started actively posting on FFn and I think about four years since I started this account, and it's time for change. I really want to thank those of you who reviewed, faved, or even just read my other works, I really, really, really love you for it, however, I will be deleting my older works, like Prince charming and My life with you. The reason why is that I feel that my style, my writing has changed, and those works no longer represent me, perhaps I'll do the same ideas again, maybe edit them, improve them, then re-post them, maybe one day. So, I'll ask you to be wonderful readers again, and answer some of these questions, before I delete my older stories.

1. Do you think that I've improved?

2. Please tell me what else I need to work on.

3. When you compare my older works with my newest ones, what are your thoughts?

Thanks a lot


	5. Lies, Guilt and Questions

Hey, guys!

I want to thank you for all the awesome reviews, I really appreciate your support and I guess it's kind of pathetic to say this, but I have to admit that I am not 100% satisfied with how this chapter turned out, so be nice, please?

* * *

"You don't go out much these days, forehead." Ino commented, just before putting a spoonful of vanilla flavored ice cream in her mouth. She licked the spoon clean before she pointed it at said forehead.

Sakura rolled her eyes, both at the accusation and her friend's vulgarity, and took a spoon out of her own creamy treat. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

Ino tossed her long blonde locks behind her shoulder and scoffed. "You're here on your lunch break. A fifteen minute lunch break. And we ran into each other!" The blonde added.

Sakura shook her head. Ino was always a drama queen. It was true that she hadn't been seeing much of her friends lately, or her husband for that matter. Even now, she was still dressed in her scrubs, having thrown a jacket over them. Her aim to be a doctor was slowly taking over her life, but she wasn't worried. This was what she signed up for. Sasuke understood, because there was a time when he struggled for what he wanted too, law was as time consuming as medicine, there must have been nights when he didn't get any sleep, nights he spent away from home, pouring over textbooks and memorizing terms and building arguments. She was certain of this, he understood her struggle, but she knew nothing about his. She knew that her husband was a lawyer, and that was it.

"I have work, pig." The rosette countered. "You know, saving lives and all that." She added sarcastically.

Ino huffed again. "You know, this is exactly why I dropped out. This," She gestured at the rosette for emphasis. "Is not for me. Besides, the nurses' outfits are pink, look at me. Can you see me in pink?"

Sakura hid her giggle behind her napkin. Sakura just liked to look good, Ino was obsessed with clothes. Having neglected to wear a wrist watch, she glanced around the shop for a clock, to see if it was time for her to leave. That was when she saw him.

He was walking at a moderate pace, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark blue jeans, and his red hair contrasting against his blue tee shirt. The rosette squinted wanting to be sure, and then sprung out of her seat, slamming a few bills on the table. She waved at her friend. "Sorry, Ino." She called over her shoulder. "I have to go."

"You still have five minutes-" Ino tried to call out, but Sakura was already out of sight. "Left." She finished, then shook her head.

"Gaara!" Sakura called out, as soon as her sneakers hit the pavement, when he didn't turn around, she called out his name again, jogging to catch up with him. The redhead finally noticed her. He smiled at her, and waved. "Hey."

"Hey!" She replied, almost breathless. "What are you doing here? I thought you left two weeks ago!" Sakura hoped that she hadn't sounded as accusatory as she felt. What reason did he have to lie to her?

"I got held up." The redhead fixed her with an inquiring look of his own, his emerald eyes, too light to mimic hers, shone with amusement and something else. "You really want to get rid of me, don't you? "You," He pointed a finger at her, barely touching her shoulder, "Don't want me to meet your husband."

Sakura inhaled and did not exhale for a few precious moments, staring at the man that once meant so much to her. She wondered if she should lie to him, come up with some excuse, or simply say that she was just caught off guard, having thought that he left a while ago, but she knew, that the Gaara that had pegged her worries just like that, would see through whatever bullshit she fed him. He knew her too well. And that almost bothered her. Had she really changed so little?

"No, not really." She finally admitted, mimicking his pose and shoving her fists into the pockets of her scrubs. "Are you," She titled her head, "hurt or something?"

Gaara smirked at her. "No, I kind of like the idea of being your dirty little secret." His smile broadened when her eyes sparkled with irritation. "I can't say that I blame you. Of course, you'd pick him. He's the successful, rich lawyer, and I'm…" He pursed his lips for a while, as if searching for the right word to describe himself. "I'm the one that got kicked out of high school."

The rosette felt something akin to bitter, old anger take over her system, and she was almost overcome with the need to act on that anger, but it was a crowded street, Ino was just a small distance away, and hitting him here and now would not do her any good. "No." She hissed. "You didn't just get kicked out of school, you hit a teacher, called me a whore, then got kicked out. Goodbye, Gaara."

With that, she turned on her heels and raced towards the hospital, shadows of the past already crawling behind her, trying to catch up with her. But Sakura didn't want them.

* * *

Concentrating on her work was difficult, and for a doctor, that was bad, disastrous even. After handing the surgeon the wrong tool for the third time, Sakura felt that it was time to kick herself out of the sterile OR. The rosette felt like she was having a panic attack, she had all the symptoms. Her heart raced in her eardrums, her chest felt like a weight was placed on it, and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe properly.

She lied to Sasuke. It had been nagging her for two weeks now. Two years, that's how long she'd been married to Sasuke. And now, for the first time in those two years, she had lied to him, deliberately told him an untruth. It had never happened before.

Could he ever find out? He was a lawyer. Wasn't his job to spot a lie, and expose it? Did he know already? And if he did, why hadn't he exposed her?

What if he and Gaara ever met up? Would Gaara tell him that she had met with him, and talked to him three times, and lied about it? It didn't matter if she could convince him that the meetings were innocent, just two friends catching up on the old times, he asked her and she deliberately said something that she knew was not true. No matter what she told him, she had still lied, and that could never look good.

While the chance of Sasuke and Gaara running into each other was slim, and the chance of Gaara actually approaching Sasuke was even slimmer, it was still there, and the worry, too. What would Sasuke think of her?

The rosette cradled her head in her hands and leaned against the wall. "Haruno." Her head snapped up at the sound of her name, she was tempted to curse when she spotted her mentor approaching her. Tsunade clicked her way towards her, dressed in a smart pencil skirt, blouse that only accentuated he rmore-than-ample breasts and heels under her lab coat. She fixed her with a disapproving look.

"You bolted out of the OR to come sulk in the hallway?" She asked, her tone flat and steady, but there was a hint of motherly reprimand in it. "What's wrong with you?"

Sakura quickly tried to get a hold of herself and adjusted her scrubs. This wasn't the place for breakdowns, or personal issues, this was a place of work, and her guilt had to stay outside of hospital walls. "Nothing, I'm sorry. I just…needed to get out. I wasn't focusing, and I didn't want to screw up."

Tsunade eyed her up, then her pretty hazel eyes settled on the rosette's stomach. "Are you pregnant?"

"No!" Sakura's denial was quick, horrified and powerful. "No, I'm not."

"I just wanted to make sure, because you look ready to fall apart." Tsunade walked the last two steps towards her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You need a break, come on."

Sakura shook her head. "I already had a break." She argued. "I need to get back in there, the surgeon will wri-"

"He won't write you up." Tsunade assured. "If I say you need a break, then you need a break. Come on, we'll go to my office, and talk about this thing that has you all screwed up."

Sakura felt unsettled, sitting on the armchair in Tsunade's office. She had been there before, but only to receive orders, or material that she was required to read, research or learn, but never to just sit. For the first time she got to inspect the place, it reflected her mentor's practicality and class, with a hint of creativity, all crammed into a space of three hundred square feet.

The blonde doctor sat behind her desk and studied her protégé. "What's on your mind?"

Sakura cleared her throat. "I really doubt that you care about my personal issues, so, if it's alright with you, I'd rather not bother you with them. Excuse me."

"Sit down." Tsunade instructed when Sakura began to stand. "You're my apprentice, one day, people are going to look at you, and say, look, Dr. Tsunade Senju taught her what she knows, I need you to be at the top of your game, right now, you're nowhere near your game. So, sit down, and tell me what the hell's wrong with you."

Sakura promptly took her seat back, she wringed her hands in her lap, a nervous habit that she had long since dropped, supposedly. "I lied to my husband."

Tsunade did not show any outward reaction to that statement, she didn't look scandalized or horrified, she reached for a glass of water. "You're married?"

Sakura did react to that. "I have been with you for almost a year now." She stated, shocked. "You didn't know that?" Sakura glanced at her hand, and the diamond ring on her finger, it kind of made sense, the only time that Tsunade ever looked at her hands would be in the OR, and there, she would be wearing a glove, and her ring would be safely dangling between her breasts on a chain.

Tsunade shrugged, and even that was classy. "No. For how long?"

"Three years in October." The rosette replied.

Tsunade nodded, processing the info. "And autumn wedding, huh? It must have been a pretty wedding."

Sakura felt naked under her mentor's scrutiny. And she also felt obligated to confess the truth, she didn't want to lie to Tsunade too. "There was…no wedding. Sasuke and I, we married in the city hall. His parents didn't know." She felt like she had to add that last part.

Tsunade shifted and Sakura could tell that she was crossing her legs. "So, are you cheating on him?"

The young Uchiha wife felt the need to bang her head against the table. Tsunade had always been an assertive woman, who studied facts, and did not render a judgment until she was sure of it, she did not operate unless the survival chance exceeded fifty, so why was she making assumptions now?

"No, I don't do that. I lied to him, but not about that." She sighed. "He asked me about something and I lied, and I'm afraid that if he found out, he'll never trust me again. And as long as I know that I lied to him, it'll nag me for life."

"What does your husband do?"

"He's a lawyer. A damn good one." She answered, drying her clammy hands on the sanitizing tissues she always kept in her pockets.

"Uh, always hard to keep secrets from those. Here's what you should do," This was what Sakura liked about her mentor, she was confident, and she wasn't afraid of telling people what to do, in fact, Sakura suspected that she thrived on it. "You should talk to your husband tell him about this lie, whatever it is, best case scenario, he'll laugh at it, worst case scenario, well, he'd at least hear it from you." Tsunade stood, and walked around her desk, to pour herself a glass of something that Sakura doubted was water. "And then, you'll kiss, go out on a date, have sex or whatever you guys do after making up, and you'll come back to being my apprentice, my smart, workaholic, talented apprentice, got it?" She didn't give the rosette time to answer. "Now, get out, you have the rest of the day off."

Sakura stood, and nodded her head to her mentor. "Thank you, Dr. Tsunade."

The blonde focused on the papers strewn about on her desk, and waved the rosette off. "This never happened." She instructed, before taking a sip of the drink that Sakura was sure was not water.

* * *

It was nice, having nothing to do. Sakura tidied up around the apartment, even thought Sasuke's neat freak tendencies prevented the place from ever getting dirty. The man couldn't stand chaos, not even for a few minutes, if he took off his shirt, he'd fold it, neatly, and place it, neatly, in the hamper, he wasn't like most guys.

She gave the bathroom a good scrubbing, soaked in the tub, then scrubbed it again. It occurred to her that she hadn't taken a day off in so long, that she didn't know what to do with one anymore, besides staring at the TV, jumping between channels and hoping to find something worth watching.

Lying down on the couch, in an oversized tee shirt, Sakura allowed her thoughts to breech the subject of her lie. Tsunade had told her to just tell him, but she was in a dilemma. If she were to tell him, and confess that she lied a few weeks ago, there were two possible outcomes. Either he gets mad that she hid something from him and focus on that, or like the truth hound he was, he would get mad about that, look past it, then badger her about the reasons she hid something from him, something told her that it would not be the former.

Around an hour later she received a text message from her husband. _I'm working late. Don't wait up._

Sakura stared at the phone. Would she talk to him? He said not to wait up, that meant that he was coming late, really late. The rosette settled back on the couch, and continued to flip channels, until sleep overcame her, and she forgot all about treachery and lies.

Sasuke stumbled into the apartment he shared with his wife just minutes before midnight. His neck was stiff, his back even worse, and he suspected that his neck had gone raw under the torture of the tie he'd worn since six am. His eyes also stung, from hours he spent staring at computer screens. He was fully intending on falling in bed, beside his wife, in his clothes, his shoes even, to get a night of much deserved sleep, but the sight he came upon in the living area made him stop dead on his tracks.

The TV was on, and Sakura was curled on the couch, the tee shirt that served as her nightwear rode high on her hips, providing an enticing view of her long legs. The lacy of edge of her panties was exposed, and he was tempted to shrug out of his shirt, slip out of his pants and join her, right there on the couch for some much needed relief, but he couldn't. He was tired, and she was probably tired, and there was no hope for them to do anything remotely relieving at the moment, except sleep.

He began to loosen his navy blue tie, until he removed it completely, his suit jacket came off next, and then the shirt. Normally, he'd gather all the items that he'd stripped out of and put them somewhere, neatly, but he was exhausted, and he simply lacked the energy.

He bent by his wife's side. "Sakura," He called out, gently touching her arm. The rosette stirred, then looked at him with sleepiness in her eyes, and an odd weariness.

She cupped his cheek. "Hey," Her voice was hoarse and soft. "What time is it?"

Sasuke glanced at the wrist watch adorning his bare arm. "It's midnight. Why are you here? Didn't you get my text?"

"I did." She yawned then righted herself, and started pulling on the hem of her night shirt. "I fell asleep here, watching TV." She glanced around the room, then pushed herself upwards. "I'll make you something to eat."

"I just want to sle-"

The rosette held up her hand for silence. "I know you didn't have anything to eat. I know you too well. I'll fix you something real quick, you'll eat it, then you'll sleep." And we'll talk, she added, in her head. The part of her brain that was awake knew that this was her chance, Sasuke was tired, he was sleepy, and this was the best time to take him on, when he wasn't in top shape, she wouldn't stand a chance otherwise. It was cheap, and it was just as sleazy as lying to him, but what choice did she have? She couldn't tell him about her treachery when he was fully capable of analyzing the situation and drawing out conclusions about her mind that even she hadn't reached.

She was alone with her thoughts while she prepared the simple meal of a light vegetable salad. She reached for a chicken breast that she had cooked earlier and popped it into the microwave.

"Really, that's not nece-"

"You need to eat, Sasuke. A balanced meal." She interrupted, sidestepping him to reach for a glass from the cupboard, in which she poured cold milk. Her husband raised an eyebrow at her beverage of choice for him, then looked at her.

"What?" She shrugged. "The only other choice is orange juice, and that wouldn't let you sleep." She fixed him with a blank stare. "And you need sleep, you look horrible."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

Sakura laughed nervously. She was exchanging easy banter with him now, but she didn't know how he'd react to what she had to say in just a bit. She had to tell him, she couldn't sleep on it, else she'd be a wreck come morning. It had to be now, but she wasn't ready. "So, what's keeping you away for so long?"

"This case," He waved his hand in the air, "Wrongful termination. A fifty year old accountant is suing the Chin Compound for wrongful termination."

Sakura placed a plate of salad with diced pieces of chicken as well as the glass of milk, and water, then bid her husband to sit, Sasuke complied. "You're not going to eat?"

"I ate earlier." She shook her head. "Wrongful termination, huh? I thought you were criminal law?" It hit her again, then, that her husband knew all that there was to know about her job, and she knew nothing about his. Sasuke was a listener, he listened to everything she had to say about her career, she could bet money on the fact that he knew the names of every person she worked with, from the receptionist to the guy that wiped blood off of the ER floor.

"I am. But this case, it really got to me. And I want to win it. So, I'm helping Juugo and Karin with it."

She raised an eyebrow. "Juugo and Karin?"

Sasuke scowled as if realizing his stupidity in mentioning people that she didn't know to her. "They're associates, at my firm."

Sakura nodded, taking the information in. It wasn't fair. That she didn't know all this, that she never asked. The idea of Sasuke providing everything for her had been nagging her, but she never asked, she never asked about what he did to earn his money. She never bothered to find out what he did in his office all day, she wasn't self-absorbed. She was absorbed in her career, and she didn't allow any of that to stand in her way. Her own mentor, the woman she'd been with for a year now, did not even know that she was married. That was how high she'd erected the barriers between her personal life and her professional life.

Did Juugo and Karin know about her? Did they know her name? Did they even know that he was married? The rosette glanced at her husband's hand, his left hand. He hadn't taken his wedding band off since the day he brought her here. They must know, did he talk about her? Sakura almost scoffed but caught herself just in time. Of course not, Sasuke was not the type to _talk. _

She was snapped out of her reverie when Sasuke began to clear the table. "You're not finished." She protested, noting that he'd only eaten half the portion he'd given him. The glass of milk was still full.

"I've eaten as much as I care to. But thanks." He held his hand out to her when he finished clearing. "Come on, you need to sleep, too."

Sakura put her hand in his and let him lead her to the bedroom. She sat at the foot of their bed and watched as he undressed. He disappeared into the bathroom, and she heard the water running in the sink.

Sasuke returned to the bedroom, dressed in his boxers, and started to pull the sheets back, he waited for her to move. "Sakura, come on." When she wouldn't move, he went and sat by her. He put his hand on her shoulder and the rosette inhaled sharply. Sasuke caught her chin between his two fingers and made her look at him. "Baby, are you alright? Are you sick?" The questions came in secession and Sakura was almost sickened by his concern.

"Sasuke, I lied to you." She confessed in one breath, then looked into his eyes for a reaction. Sasuke froze for a few heartbeats, and she could almost hear the seconds tick by. "Sasuke, I lied to you about something." She repeated, when no reaction came forth.

Sasuke inched away from her a bit. "I…" He shook his head. "What does that mean exactly? You lied to me about what?"

The rosette swallowed. It was going to be difficult to explain to him exactly why she had lied, and why she felt so guilty about it. "About a month ago, I had a patient, at the hospital." She added dumbly.

Sasuke nodded, willing her to continue. "This patient, his name was Gaara." Sasuke's silver-black eyes widened and she was instantly aware of what he had in mind. "He was…is a childhood friend, remember Chiyo?" She didn't wait for him to nod or give his agreement, but instead continued to blunder through her confession. "He's her grandson, and it was a surprise to see him there. After that, I saw him two times, and both times," She inhaled, "Both times you asked me what I did with my day, and I lied, both times I said that I was home all day, when I wasn't."

She heard his intake of breath, and the bed shifted as he rose, to stand a distance away from her. "I'm trying to wrap my head around what you're telling me here, Sakura. You and this guy, you-"

"No!" She bound to her feet and reached for his hand. "Sasuke, I'd never. You know that. Please, you have to believe me."

Her husband stared at their attached hands and then pulled his back. She tried again. "Baby, Gaara is my childhood friend, nothing more, he isn't some secret lover that I've been keeping from you. Would I be telling you about it if was cheating on you?"

Sasuke's instincts as an attorney went into action. As a lawyer, this is what he did best. It was his job to look beyond the evidence laid out before him and dig for hidden details. He crossed his arms over his bare chest. "Why are you telling me about it, now?" He questioned. "Why not then? Why did you lie then?"

"I don't know." She was doing it again, lying to him. "And I felt guilty. I ran into Gaara again, today, and I was scared, and guilty, and I had to tell you."

Her husband approached her. He was gifted with a formidable height, and she was just of average, if not petite, stature, so he towered over her. "I'm not buying that, why did you lie to me before?"

"I-"

"You lied, Sakura." Her husband snapped. "You didn't forget, you purposely lied, why? I need to know why."

"I'm sorry." She breathed out. "I'm so sorry. But it's nothing, I swear. I just thought that I should tell you, I'm sorry that I lied, I didn't think."

Sasuke fixed her with a blank stare, his lips set in a flat line, and his eyebrows pushed together. "Out of all the things, Sakura, lying, deceit, is the one thing that I can't forgive." He shook his head. "I'm going to sleep."

"Sas-"

"Not another word, Sakura, please. I, I need to sleep."

Quietly, he slipped under the sheets, his body set in a rigid, unmoving line. Sakura cursed herself, under her breath. She knew that he'd overreact, but not like this. She stared at him. He seemed hurt, really hurt, it didn't matter that she assured him that her meetings with Gaara were innocent, he seemed not to care about that, anyways. He was hurt by the fact that she deceived him, and not the lie itself. Honesty, she remembered, was a thing that he treasured, he told her this when they first started dating. Why hadn't she listened? She should have listened.

* * *

Sasuke woke up with the first rays of sun, even though he had slept late. Memories of what happened just before he went to sleep assaulted him. He looked at his wife's side of the bed, she wasn't there, and the sheets were undisturbed, signaling that she hadn't slept there at all.

He went through his morning routine, washed, dressed, then headed out. He found Sakura in the living room, curled on the couch, a light grey blanket sliding halfway off of her body. Sasuke paused, then bent by her side, and fixed the blanket to cover her completely.

He meant what he told her, before, lying was something that he did not, could not, stand. There was nothing that he despised more than deception, not a sin in his book that was worse than fabrication. One of the main reasons he loved his wife was her honesty, not her beauty, not her intelligence, but he loved the fact that he could trust her, completely. She had shaken that, and he didn't know what to think of it.

He prided himself in being an astute man, Sakura did not hide the fact that she met with this Gaara guy for no reason, there was something behind it, it could be innocent, and it could be the opposite of that. She said that Gaara was Chiyo's grandson, meaning that they spent sometime in the same residence for some years, at least three. He knew that he was Sakura's first, but that didn't mean that he was the first man that she had ever fell for. Could it be that? Was Gaara some sort of old flame and she didn't want them to meet?

It was the only rational conclusion, the one that made the most sense, but something, the instincts that he made use of in all of his cases, told him that it was also more than that.

Forcing himself to push all thoughts of his wife's treachery to the dark recesses of his mind, he focused on his work. At eleven pm he sent his wife a text, out of obligation.

_I have work. Staying at the office._

* * *

Sakura stared at her husband's text for a total of five minutes, and all the time, wondered if taking her mentor's advice on her personal life was the worst mistake she had ever done.

Could she have lost her husband's trust? Just like that?

* * *

Remember what I said? Be nice?

I thought about adding two more scenes, but I thought that it turned out horrible, so I stuck with mediocre, which is what this chapter is, at best, anyway, we still have ways to go, so stick around please, and REVIEW, I need to know what you think

Much love, :)


	6. Confrontation

Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed the latest chapter, I really appreciate your opinions, truly, your words keep me going, so once again, thank you.

I hope you like this chapter, so enjoy!

WARNING: heavy dialogue

* * *

Sakura found herself turning fidgety around her mentor, ever since the somewhat heart-to-heart conversation that she had with the blonde, Sakura felt rather exposed around her.

Granted, Tsunade had not breached the subject, and chose not to venture into Sakura's personal life again, and Sakura, for her part, focused on her work and career.

She hadn't seen Sasuke in three days. It was not like he left her, though, the first night, when he didn't text, and Sakura returned home to find it empty, she near collapsed with fear that he had walked out on her because of a stupid mistake, but his clothes were still there, his shoes, his shaving cream, his shampoo, and Sakura found some comfort in that.

Over the course of the next couple of days Sakura discovered that their schedules just clashed, when he was home, she wasn't and vice versa, either that, or, he was avoiding her.

"Sakura?"

The rosette's head snapped up when she heard her name called. She smiled at the nurse that addressed her.

"Dr. Senju would like to see you in her office, as soon as you're available."

Sakura looked at the patient files that she'd been studying for the last half hour and shrugged, the files could wait. Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, her amber eyes focused on a file, she glanced up when She heard her greeting.

"You called for me?"

"Yes, come." She gestured at one of the chairs. "Sit, there's this case." She gave the file a push, and Sakura accepted the binder. Her eyes did not linger on the name, but directly flew towards the symptoms, she gave the list a thorough scan, then raised her head.

"All symptoms are consistent with heart failure, of course, an ultrasound is necessary, but otherwise, this patient will require heart transplant."

Tsunade nodded, obviously, already aware of the diagnosis. "Correct. Patient will be placed on the donor's list shortly, and given priority." She folded her carefully manicured hands, and fixed Sakura with a stare. "I want you to assist. Not just be there, but assist. You will be my right hand."

Sakura perked up, first years were never given the opportunity to participate in transplant operations, this was an opportunity, a privilege, and Sakura all but jumped at it. To have Tsunade, a renowned surgeon, a phenomenon in heart surgery, recognize her talent, recognize her potential, enough to allow her to assist in one of the most important surgeries in cardio, it was a heady sensation, and thrilling.

"Of course." She answered, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice, and failing miserably at it, it was all she could do not to jump up and down like a puppy on drugs.

"Bear in mind, the board of administration could protest, due to the fact that you're still inexperienced, but I'm confident that you can do this."

Sakura nodded, a little smile dancing at her lips, obviously giddy over the fact that her mentor, and idol, had faith in her abilities. It was only then that she glanced at the patient's name written on the file. "_What?" _She couldn't, for the life of her, stop the hiss that escaped her lips. She was sure that her eyes were as wide as saucers, and that her mouth gaped like that of a fish. She read the name, once, twice, then once more, then glanced at her mentor, who straightened in her chair.

"Is something wrong?" Tsunade asked, reaching for the binder, Sakura handed it over mechanically. The blonde glanced at the name, then at her protégé again, then repeated. "Sakura, what's the matter with you?"

* * *

"I-I never told you my husband's name, did I?"

Sakura stared long and hard at the innocent looking file sitting harmlessly on her coffee table. She took a sip of her green tea then resumed staring at the file, as if it would somehow come to life and enlighten her as to what she should do. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, and she had no idea on how to proceed.

It was noon on her day off, the day after Tsunade showed her the file, and Sasuke was still a no-show, she was starting to lose faith in her belief that he hadn't left her, since that first night, he hadn't so much as called or texted.

Suits and ties were disappearing out of his side of their closet, so, she was sure that he did come home occasionally, it could be as she thought, that they simply, and coincidentally, never crossed paths, or that he was truly avoiding her, that he was so mad at her that he didn't want to talk to her or even see her face.

Despite her guilt, part of her still believed that he had grossly overreacted, the way that he had looked at her, with clear betrayal written all over his face, like the kid that was just told that Santa Claus did not exist, or the girl that just found out that the tooth fairy was just a fabrication, told to make the kids feel better about losing their teeth. It was almost like she had been unfaithful, like she confessed that Gaara was her lover, and they had been screwing around behind his back.

It didn't make sense, when she confessed, she expected bad reactions, but not as bad as that. Sure, Sasuke said, on their first days together, that honesty was the downfall of every relationship that he had before her.

She sipped her tea and winced when she realized that it had gone ice cold. Why were these things happening to them? They were fine when their marriage was a secret. She shook her head to herself, no, burying problems and issues under a guise of utopia-ish bliss did not mean that said problems were inexistent.

She rose abruptly, the chilled liquid of her tea sloshing around, and landing in small puddles on the hardwood floor, she didn't care about them, though. Sasuke could not stay mad at her forever, and they would never be able to put this thing behind them if he kept avoiding her. With determination making a mad dash through her veins, Sakura decided that if Sasuke was not coming to her, she would go to him, and that was that.

Preparing Sasuke's favorite meal of rice balls and tomatoes was easy. She couldn't help but think that he, without her to badger him on his eating, was skipping meals, he never minded his meals, and always somehow forgot about them.

She constantly worried about the effects that such a thing could have on his health but he seemed careless, he told her that it wasn't like he didn't want to eat, it was just that he almost never felt hungry, despite being an active person, both physically and intellectually.

Frowning to herself while she carefully packed the food that she had prepared, Sakura made a note to look into the matter.

Sasuke's neck felt like rock, stiff, and it hurt like the devil. Such was the result of pouring over documents for four days. Part of him wanted to believe that it was just his dedication to his work, and his perfectionism, keeping him there, but another distant, almost inaudible part of him, told him that he was just avoiding his wife, which was not completely untrue, he didn't feel like dealing with marital issues, especially not when he had so much on his plate.

* * *

"We've been staring at these papers for the last three days or so, I guess it's safe to assume that we're not going to have a miraculous breakthrough anytime soon."

Sasuke's head turned in the direction which the voice came from. Uzumaki Karin sat to his right, dressed in a smart skirt and top. Being his best friend's cousin, and having went to the same law school as he, it was safe to say that she had been with him, in his firm, for the longest period, as well as Juugo and Suigetsu.

Juugo went to school with him as well, and Suigetsu was a law enforcement dropout, Sasuke quickly recognized his talent for investigation and hired him as a legal investigator. Juugo was sitting to his left, quietly studying his share of papers, and Suigetsu was lying on his couch, his jacket covering his face.

Karin was right, there was not much that they could do. It was a shame, Sasuke really wanted to win the case for their client. Tazuna was an old man, yes, but a talented one, he gave his life for his company as an architect, and then, a new manager showed up and decided that Tazuna was dispensable, it didn't make sense. His client was the company's greatest assets. By law, any employer has the right to fire any employee, without reason, but there were reasons for which an employer cannot fire an employee, and it was Sasuke's duty, as well as Juugo's, Karin's and Suigetsu's , to find it.

"I think a lunch break is in order." Karin announced, catching Suigetsu's attention who had just straightened on the couch. "We could all use some food, especially you, Sasuke, you look pale."

Suigetsu snorted. "Of course, you'd notice."

The redhead fixed him with a pointed stare, and Sasuke rubbed at his temples. "Enough." He knew them both well enough to figure out that they were about to go into a headache-inducing and childish argument, and he was far too tired to listen to them bicker like two year olds.

Juugo raised his head, seemingly noticing the edgy tone of his employer's and friend's voice. "Is something wrong?"

Sasuke glanced at the gentle giant. Juugo was incredibly tall, and broad, but his size did not intimidate people, but rather, his kind eyes and easy smile softened his expression and made him somewhat amiable.

"No." He answered. "Just exhausted."

Suigetsu joined them by the conference table. "I don't understand. This guy, Tazuka, Tazuna, or whatever, if he can afford us, then he's got cash, so why bother?"

Sasuke's gaze snapped towards Suigetsu's. "It's not about the money." He argued emphatically, prompting both Karin and Juugo to glance his way, startled.

Karin straightened and crossed her legs. "You're taking this rather…personally, I think."

"I want to win." He deadpanned. "It doesn't get any more personal than that. But to answer your question, yes, this is rather important, because this man spent his entire life working to appease to these people, and then they throw him out and practically tell him that everything he's ever done for them is shit? Yes, I hate that, and I'll do whatever I can to make sure that he gets what he deserves, and you will do the same."

"Okay, okay." Suigetsu pacified, a role that he was entirely unaccustomed to. "I was just asking. I wonder who pissed in your coffee this morning."

Sasuke fixed him with a look, he was just about to retort when his intercom beeped. "Yes?" His fingers went to rub the bridge of his nose.

His receptionist's voice crashed the silence in the vast office room. _"Sir, Mrs. Uchiha is here."_

Sasuke pursed his lips, and pondered on that for a few heartbeats. Mrs. Uchiha, that could either mean his mother or his wife -the receptionist knew about Sakura since he had told her that she could receive calls, or visits, from her-, he didn't like either one of those choices for company at the moment.

"Send her in."

Silence continued to rein on the room. Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu, they were not just associates, to him, though he would never admit, he also considered them friends, he informed them about Sakura a few months ago, and they didn't say anything, Sasuke surmised that they didn't know what to say, he preferred it that way.

Sasuke lifted his gaze towards the large double doors of his office, and in came his wife. She was dressed in a crème colored dress, and tall black heels carrying a small traveler's bag with her.

She seemed surprised that there were three other people with them. "Oh, I'm sorry." She breathed out, a distinctive shade of pink taking over her cheeks. "Your receptionist said that you were alone?"

Juugo was the first to recover. "I'm sure that Min was not in her post when we came in." He stood, adjusted is suit jacket, and extended a hand towards Sakura. "It's great to finally meet you, Mrs. Uchiha. I'm Juugo."

Sakura smiled brightly at him, and extended her own hand. "It's wonderful to meet you too, Juugo. Please, call me Sakura."

Suigetsu waved from his seat, as was his casual nature. "I'm Suigetsu, at your service." He winked, prompting the rosette to laugh.

Karin was the slowest to respond. She glanced between the couple, back and forth, then ever so leisurely, she stood. The redhead smoothed her manicured hands over the expanse of her dark skirt, and clicked her way towards Sakura.

"I'm Karin." She announced. "A fourth year associate, here, with your husband." She inclined her head in Sasuke's way, as if to emphasize her point. It was a challenge, and every person in the room knew it. Sasuke rose, preparing to interfere if worse came to worse. He focused his eyes on Sakura, studying her reaction. She merely tilted her head, and Sasuke knew that she was rising to the challenge, as was her nature. "Oh?" She turned her head towards him. "I thought that associates were promoted to partners after the third year?" She waved a hand in the air. "Oh, I must have been mistaken."

Suigetsu snorted, and Sasuke resisted the urge to kick him. it was true, third year associates were usually given the opportunity to become partners, but Sasuke liked to be in charge of his own firm, and Karin, as well as Juugo, understood that.

Juugo, seemingly sensing the tension in the air, cleared his throat. "Um, Karin? Didn't you say that we should go have some lunch? Come on, we'll go now."

The silver headed investigator caught the bait. "I'm starving. It was great meeting you, Sakura." He caught Karin's elbow and pressured her to move.

Sakura had other ideas, apparently. "No need." She raised the traveler's bag. "I have food."

His colleagues remained frozen on the spot, caught between leaving, and accepting the offer of free food. He sighed. "Sakura makes great food, you might as well stay."

His wife fixed her big, green eyes on him with something akin to relief swimming in them. Recalling the way that they parted ways, so to speak, three days ago, Sasuke turned his head, silently conveying that he was not over their little dispute.

Despite the fact that his last meal, which he had the day before, consisted of a sandwitch, Sasuke found that he had little appetite, and settled for one rice ball, and a few slices of his favorite fruit. Suigetsu devoured the bulk of the food that Sakura brought, while mumbling every two minutes on how good it tasted.

Juugo politely smiled at his wife and complimented her on her culinary skills while Karin, ever the prideful one barely touched the food even though Sakura brought more than enough.

When one and all cleared out of the room, at Juugo's prodding, Sasuke turned to face his wife. "Is this bribery?"

Sakura left her seat and went to pace by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. "I haven't seen you in three days. Do you think that's fair?"

Sasuke scoffed. "You lied to me, do you think that's fair?"

The rosette spun and huffed. "Let it go, will you, Sasuke? Yes, I did. And I regret immensely. But, Sasuke, haven't you ever lied to someone?"

"Yes, I did." He countered. "To everyone else, but never to you, Sakura." He stood to stand by the windows, his hands clasped behind his back. "You and I, we're husband and wife, partners, we don't lie to each other, ever."

Sakura's voice was weak, and fragile, when she responded. "I made a mistake, Sasuke. And it would kill me to see such a stupid, meaningless mistake come between us. You're all I have."

"Am I, Sakura? And was it a stupid, meaningless mistake?" He countered, turning to face her, his wife looked down, her bright bangs covering her eyes; he reached forward and cupped her chin between his forefinger and thumb, forcing her to look him in the eye. "I want to know why. Tell me."

"Sasuke, please-"

"Tell me." He cut her off. "I know you, and I know this isn't something that you did just for the sake of doing it, something about this friend of yours made you, not withhold information, but lie. Tell me why. What is he to you?"

"A friend." She answered, softly. "And once upon a time, a person I cared for, as more than a friend."

Sasuke sighed. It seemed that his suspicions were correct. "Is that why you didn't want me to know about meeting with him? Because, if it's that, then you were being ridiculous, you know me, I'm not the type to-"

"Not just that." She interrupted, then turned away from her, but not before Sasuke got a good glimpse at her expression. She was struggling, caught between two options, and if he had to guess, he could say that was struggling to decided whether to clear the confusion, and tell him all, or, let him believed as he pleased, and let the matter drop.

"Gaara…Suna, is the past." She admitted, so quietly and shakily that Sasuke was tempted to grasp her shoulders and force her to face him, so that he could see if she was crying, or defeated. "It's my past, and I didn't want you to be part of it."

Sasuke's first reaction was to recoil, as if he'd been punched in the gut. Something about the way she said it, and the words she said, hit too close to home, and he found himself taking an awkward, and reflexive, step backwards, in order to distance himself from her and her admission. Sakura continued on, unaware of the effect that her words had on him.

"You don't understand, Sasuke. And in a way, even I can't understand." The rosette took a seat by the conference table, and continued to stare out of the window, her black straight, and partially facing him. "The person that left Suna was weak, dependant, and…, it isn't who I am anymore, I changed, or at least, I thought I did, until I saw Gaara. And things he said, they shook me up."

"What?" Sasuke heard himself whisper, and yet, in the silence of the room, he felt as if he had shouted. "What did he say?"

"You and I, Sasuke, we're not compatible. I thought that I was everything I ever wanted to be, independent, but I'm not. This life that you provide for me, these clothes I'm wearing," She fisted her hand in the light material of her dress's bodice. "Do you think that I could have been able to afford all this without you?

"So, I'm a bad guy now, because I like to buy you things, because I like to take care of you."

"You're not listening to me, Sasuke." She countered. "The person that had to work for her living, the Sakura that had to clean tables and wipe floors just to get through the day, and this me, the Sakura that I have been for the last two years or so, they're not the same person."

"Is that not what you wanted?" He hissed, it was all he could to not scream in irritation. "You wanted change, didn't you?"

"Not by you." The rosette countered. "Meeting with Gaara, it made me think, everything I thought I accomplished by myself, you had a hand in it. Everything."

"That's ridiculous."

His wife bound out of her chair. "No, it's not, Sasuke, not to my way of thinking, and you want to know why I didn't want you and Gaara to meet? Because he was my past, and you are taking up so much of my present, that I didn't want him in my present, and nor you in my past. I want to keep things separate, do you understand?"

For the first time in many years, Sasuke felt his normally very organized thoughts slip into utter chaos. Never, in a million years, could he have guessed that Sakura thought this way. There was such a defensive air to her pose that he found himself instinctively slipping into an offensive mood. "How long have you been thinking this way?"

Her reply was quick, and quiet. "I don't know. I truly don't. For some time I guess, and meeting up with Gaara, I guess it made me think harder about it." She sighed, heavily, then sat on his sofa, fisting her hands in her soft reddish blonde locks. "When I was with Chiyo, at school, I was the orphan, the one with no parents, hardly any friends, and freakish looks." She tightened her grip on her hair for emphasis. "Gaara, you can say that he took me under his wing, he always sat with me, and protected me from the other students, I _worshipped him. _I thought that I felt for him, that I loved him, but it was just hero worship, and he wasn't right for me."

Sasuke felt his hackles rise, and anger overshadowed the panic that he felt. He didn't want to dwell on the reasons for his panic, even though he he knew exactly what they were. Empathy. "Did he hurt you?" He hissed, taking the steps that separated them two at a time.

"No!" She was quick to reply. "At least, not in the way that you think." She shook her head once more. "He was possessive, and untrusting. One day, I stayed behind with my biology teacher, in class, other students were just coming in when he stormed in, he punched my teacher, called me a whore, and then stormed out." She laughed sardonically. "That was the last time I spoke to him, even though we lived in the same house, until…" She waved her hand in the air, almost in dismissal.

"The point is, Sasuke, there was a time when I was more or less under Gaara's mercy, I don't want that with you, not ever. That's why I kept it from you, I didn't want you to pry into my past. And yes, it does sound stupid, but you promised, when we married, that you'd allow me my eccentricities."

"That's not what I want either. I don't-, god, this is such a mess."

"I'm sorry, baby." She finally mumbled, raising her head to look at him from under her front bangs. "I really am." She reached into her purse, and pulled a paper out.

"This is not bribery." She started, then clicked her way towards him, and held the paper just out reach. "It's a token of peace, if you'd like. But before I give it to you, where is your dad?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, momentarily caught off guard. "Oto, why?"

His wife sighed, then reached out, with her free hand to caress his cheek. He almost started, but held himself in place. "I don't want you to be worried or anything, but you need to read this."

When he reached for the document, she pulled it back. "Just know this, I could get fired, sued, or worse, for this, so you better appreciate it."

He snatched the document out of her hand, already curious, and worried, his eyes scanned over the words printed on the crisp paper, and then widened when they fell on the name printed in bold, at the top of the sheet.

Sensing his distress, his wife reached for him, holding on to his forearms, as if anchoring him to ground. "Baby, it's going to be alright."

How, he wanted to say. How the hell was it supposed to be alright? "Dad needs a heart transplant?" He choked out. "For, since when? He never said, he never talked, or-"

His wife merely pulled him into her arms, and holding him tightly. "It's okay." She whispered, much like she would do to a child. "He'll be fine."

Sasuke hoped to god that that was true, but for the moment, he'll take Sakura's word for it.

* * *

Ok, as always, your opinions are much appreciated, so feel free to give them out.

I have some bad news, so, on September 8th, I'll be starting my last year in high school, in June, I have this exam, like really big exam, it will not only determine whether or not I go to college, but also decide exactly what I'm going to be studyint there, so I really need to work hard for it. That being said, I have to warn you to expect sporradic updates, I'll update whenever I can, but I really need to focus on school this year, please wish me luck, much love to all you faithful readers, I love you all


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